Halo:Codename Intercept
by Belle Ecrivain
Summary: Raven Stone is a young insurrectionist rebel spy who discovers a nasty secret the resident UNSC base harbors. She is immediately pursued by all parties, fighting to survive the dangerous mess she has found herself in. Her adventure has just begun, and whether or not she survives may not be up to her at all. p.s. Sadly, I do not own Halo.
1. Trouble in Paradise

Chapter one

0722 Hours, September 17,

2547 (military calendar) /

On Bravo Base 070 UNSC data site,

Arcadia, Procyon System

Outskirts of Abaskun City

Raven walked briskly down the dark corridor, nervously glancing around every corner she turned.

She gripped a small metal drive in her hand, in which she had been instructed to insert into the UNSC base's data core and transfer its files onto the port. The port was also programmed to eliminate obstacles, such as locked doors and data panels. It was a special gift from Annie, the rebels AI.

The young girl made her way to the control room of the base, where the data core was located. Hopefully. She prayed none of the metal monstrosities were lurking in the shadows, ready to rip her limb from limb. The UNSC's pet robots were the very fabric of children's nightmares, causing them to run screaming to their parents in the middle of the night.

Two officers clad in standard military uniform suddenly rounded the next corner and strolled down the hall, chatting quietly amongst themselves, unbeknownst that the "Warrant Officer Ren Jenson" speed walking past them had a nasty secret. Raven had "acquired" that uniform by knocking a woman in the head with the butt of her SMG that she now concealed under her arm. The woman never stood a chance.

Raven pulse began to race as one of the officers gave her the stink eye, wondering whether or not it was really worth it to pull her over, but his comrade was oblivious to the danger and was fully engrossed in their conversation. They continued walking down the hall without incident.

Raven wondered if she should have saluted to them, or perhaps acknowledged them, but she wasn't clear on the order of rank and would most likely draw unwanted attention to herself. She needed to stay under the radar. Her past infiltrations had too many close calls for her liking.

The girl continued further down the hall until a faded metal door appeared on her right. She slowed her awkward pace and turned towards the door, making sure no one else was taking a stroll down the hallway. She slipped the data port into the open slot on the locking mechanism and held her breath in anticipation.

It blinked red as the drive fried the circuits, little twirls of smoke leaking from the top of the lock, before flashing the green "all clear" light. The door slid open.

Raven peered into the dark room, but even as she squinted, she couldn't see inside _. What if the armored demons lurked in the shadows? How many of her fellow insurrectionists have been murdered by them?_ She nearly hurled at the thought. Suddenly, she heard quiet footsteps echoing down the corridor. Raven's breath caught, if someone saw her milling about outside of a supposedly locked room with the circuits sparking….she didn't't want to think about it.

Raven quickly stepped into the dark room, took a calming breath, and slid the door closed behind her.

Raven knew something was wrong the second her foot hit the ground. The air was too tight with anticipation, and the normal blue glow of the data core was absent. It had been manually shut-off. She only knew what the data-core was supposed to look like because she had made several visits to it over the past seven months, where a light blue glow usually accompanied the lavish of illegal intelligence. That she had also illegally stolen. And then sold –illegally- to the Rebels stationed on this planet. Although this time, her naturally cautious nature and carefully thought-out tactics did not save her. And neither did her ruse.

Nine armored soldiers stood across from her, standing in a semi-circle, completely sealing off her exits. There was no escape this time.

 _Crap._

"Drop your weapons, and get on your knees," the man closest to her snarled. She assumed he was the commanding major here, as he stood slightly in front of the rest.

Raven studied them closely. They all wore black suits with a dull brown metal plating, although it looked thin from where she was standing. Even so, she recognized the suit. ODST's. Or more accurately called "Helljumpers," for they accepted the missions no one else would. Raven only had a vague idea of them, but she knew they were a crackhead bunch who would rather shoot than ask questions. Apparently, being dropped behind enemy lines did that kind of thing to you.

Raven also knew if she so much as tossed her auburn hair from her eyes, they'd pump her full of armor-piercing rounds. Unfortunately, she wore no armor, as she had hoped she wouldn't require it.

"I said get down on your knees and drop your weapons!" He shouted, striding forward and planting his battle rifle (BR) on her forehead. She glared at him for a moment, then sighed.

 _Great. I_ _'_ _m going to be late back to base. Again. The L.T. would chew me out for this._ Raven clicked open the buckle on her holster and let her SMG'S drop to the floor, feeling a pang of guilt at giving them up so easily. She hoped they wouldn't permanently confiscate them, since they were the only stable thing she had in her life. How sad was that? Although now she realized, guns couldn't help her.

Raven slowly pulled her six inch knife from a hidden flap under her jacket that she wore beneath the hijacked uniform, and threw it to the floor. She then leaned down and pulled a small handgun from her combat boots. The Major waited patiently, glaring at her with triumph in his steely blue eyes. She stood back up, and proceeded to glare right back at him. Raven was already seething with anger beneath her hard exterior, already analyzing the situation, looking for a way out. There was always a way out.

"Nevar, grab her SMG's."

A stout ODST stalked from the group and kicked the guns away from her feet. He kept his eye on her the entire time, his finger a centimeter away from the trigger. It was obvious she was well known here.

"Get em' cuffed." The major growled into his COM mic, making certain to keep his gun and the rest of his teams' weapons on her skull. He had slid his face-plate up, the only reason she could hear him.

Ravens hands were up in front of her, her palms held out innocently, attempting to show she was no threat. For now, anyway.

Another soldier ambled up to her and yanked her hands behind her back, clasping them together with energy cuffs. Raven hated energy cuffs, no way out of them except to enter a sixteen-digit code that only a select few knew. Whoever had thought up something like that knew there stuff.

"So you're the leak. I expected someone…more capable." The Major noted, watching her expression carefully. She said nothing. The major walked toward her, glaring. He held a smug look on his face, and Raven promised herself she'd return the favor in due time.

Satisfied she was sufficiently mocked, he turned to the ODST apparently named Nevar and barked: "Keep her in your scopes, she's a sly little devil."

Two of the Helljumpers moved to stand on either side of her, both of their guns pointed at her head. One of them grabbed her arm and spun her around, then marched her out the door, throwing the door open with his boot. She could feel the other men's guns trained on the back of her head, but she kept calm. A freak-out would do her no good now. Besides, an eerie calm that seemed to be attracted to her unnerved the most hardened soldiers.

Ravens hand began to itch and cramp; she needed to complete her mission, and return to base. Something in the back of her mind compelled her to get the intel. Get the intel, and return to base. Complete the objective _. Win._ Either way, Raven intended to follow her orders.


	2. No Rest For The Weary

Chapter Two

0802 Hours, September 17,

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Arcadia, Bravo Base 070,

Outskirts of Abaskun City

Major Josh Meyers turned his back on his two troopers leading the interloper away, knowing they could easily handle it if she should attempt to escape. She hadn't even tried to fight back. _Coward_ , Meyers thought.

Although he was glad the thief had been caught, and would be thoroughly punished, he still felt a pang in the back of his mind.

She was so young. Meyers had no compassion for the rebels, but it was shameful what they had resorted to, using children to do their bidding. He made a mental note to lodge an extra bullet in every one of their skulls. Disgusted, the major made his way to his temporary quarters. His team had been called off-duty in order to catch this "cerebral assassin." It had taken a matter of seconds and no shots were fired. Normally, the base security would have handled it, but she had escaped so many times and caused such a ruckus the big guns had to be brought in to handle the situation and stop the continuous leak of intel.

Meyers was sure his men would have preferred she went down swinging, though.

He ordered the remaining six Helljumpers back to the weapons armory to stock up, as they would most likely be deployed soon. He could sense they were itching to get back into the war against the Covenant and kick some "slag" as the A.I.'s always said. He had only been promoted to a major for a few months, but had served with his squad for over a decade and knew them like the back of his faceplate.

The ODST major continued down the hallway, walking silently besides his armor. The intense boot-camp that had dragged him through the ringer did have its benefits.

His COM buzzed in his ear, and he clicked it onto an open channel.

"Major Josh Meyers?" a gruff voice asked.

"Here," he grumbled into the mic.

"The colonel needs you in the control room, sir." The voice answered back.

"Noted."

He turned around and came back the way he had come, bringing up the map he memorized of the base before being deployed here. Everything looked the same these days, nobody had time or the spirit to care about looks. Along with millions of lives, the Covenant had stolen that too.

As to why he was needed in the control room, he hadn't the slightest clue, but orders were orders. Meyer made his way across the base until he pulled open the door to the control room.

The rectangular room had three rows of tables, all covered with tangled wires and computers. People sat around the desks, muttering to themselves and to their fellow workers. The front of the room had strategic maps with circles and x's scribbled all over them, marking the rebel's movements.

This base was specifically designed to keep the rebellion under control on this planet, small as it was, without needing to bring in outside resources. The UNSC was stretched thin enough as is. This planet, Arcadia, was attacked by the covenant in 2531, destroying most of its colonies and driving its people into unexplored regions. Abaskun City was also besieged, and was now only a fraction of its former glory. The UNSC was somehow able to fend them off with a single ship, and SPARTAN teams Red and Omega. Although a victory then, everyone knew they would return with a vengeance. Now, 2547, the rebels had caused a new battle on Arcadia.

Meyers saw an older man standing close to the planets map, studying them closely. He had black hair streaked with grey and a cleanly shaven face. He wore a dark green suit with a freshly pressed tie, and Meyers saw the gold badges he wore. A brigadier general. What was a one star general doing on a planet like this? Meyers wondered, before quickly snapping off a crisp salute.

"At ease, Helljumper." The general said, his voice was surprisingly young for his appearance. Field age, Meyers realized. Meyers lowered his hand, but stayed standing erect.

"How is your team, major?"

"Ready for deployment, sir." Meyers replied.

"Good. I'm General Shane Walker; I have a new assignment for you and your team." Walker said plainly, as if this was no big deal, a minor bump in his busy schedule.

"Yes sir."

"Exactly nine minutes ago, Alpha Base was infiltrated, stolen of both its Pelicans and one Scorpion, and had its security system disabled. As to how the Innies got the knowledge of how to get inside, de-activate the security system, power up the vehicles without using the security code, and enter the weapons army and steal a handful of RPG's is a mystery to me. The only digital recording of this information was in the data core of the base your team protected from being hacked into. Go to Alpha Base and recover the stolen equipment."

Meyer's nodded, "Yes sir." The major quickly saluted and turned to jog out the door.

"ODST's this is Major Meyers, ready your equipment and meet in the cargo bay in three." Meyers said into his COM link.

"Yes sir!" came a chorus of voices.

Meyers ran down corridor after corridor taking the quickest route to the cargo bay, where the base's Pelicans sat at the ready. He stopped and grabbed a M5 assault rifle hanging from an armory depot on the wall, two frag grenades and enough clips to put down a rebel mob. Time to bloody some faces.

He slung the assault rifle over his shoulder and continued jogging towards the bay.

The door slid open as he arrived, only to find his team standing ready. Meyers took a look at his men; all clad in top-notch ODST suits. Each one of their face-plates were down, hiding their expressions. All of them twitched with anticipation, ready for whatever the Innie trash had to throw at them. They were all equipped with various guns, grenades, and knives. Nick even had a RPG strapped to his back.

The cargo bay was mostly empty, except for a lone Pelican that sat with its pilots lounging on the outside as the back door swung down.

"Everything is ready, sir." Nevar stated, motioning to the Pelican.

"Good. I'll brief you on the way." Meyers said before marching past his men and climbing into the back of the Pelican. Eight Helljumpers piled in around him, taking up seats to his right and left.

"Clear for departure." The pilot announced out of the speakers. The drop door slid closed with a _thwump_ , and the Pelican rumbled to life. The bird spun a one-eighty, before slowly gliding out the hangar door.

"Drop point twenty-three clicks southeast of our current position, ETA in forty-seven minutes." the pilot informed them as her voice blasted over the speakers.

The Pelican flew out of a lush, green forest, with towering mountains in the distance. They slowly gained altitude until they could see over the huge mound of hardened land, revealing nothing but more staggeringly tall trees. They rounded the first mountain, heading southeast, just as a plume of smoke erupted from Bravo Base 070.


	3. It's A Small World

Chapter Three

0943 Hours, September 17,

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Arcadia, Bravo Base 070,

Outskirts of Abaskun City

Raven watched the door. Every seventeen minutes, someone came in and asked her the same questions. And every seventeen minutes, her answer stayed the same.

She sat in a bland grey room, with two flickering lights staring down at her. Her chair was pulled up to a metal desk welded to the floor, and a manila folder glared at her from across the table. She hadn't touched it. She didn't want to touch it.  
There was a single door in the room, protected by two guards standing outside. Raven noticed they were basic base security, not the ODST's that had met her in the data center. Escaping ODST's was one thing, but escaping from marines would be almost comically easy. Well, as easy as getting out of a guarded UNSC security base could be. _I may be young_ , she thought, _but I was trained by the best._

There was only one snag in her plan, the energy cuffs still attached to her wrists. They bit into her skin, buzzing with a blue and green energy. She wasn't sure who designed them, but she was sure cursing their existence now. The only way to turn them off was the sixteen-digit code that all the UNSC standard edition data pads were programmed with. And the very same data pad almost every personnel on base carried. The data pads held everything from coordinates and data depots to schematics of Covenant and UNSC ships, and also included their standard base map.

Raven wondered how long it had been since the last interrogation. Her question was quickly answered when the door swung open, and a lean woman entered the room. She wore olive fatigues, with black combat boots that matched Ravens. Raven laid her cold green eyes on her, watching her as she walked closer. The woman said nothing, casually strolling over and pulling out the chair on the opposite side of the table, and plopping down into it. The young girl glared at her. The woman glared back. The officer reached over and slid the manila folder in front of her, then opened it up and read over its contents. Raven wasn't sure how to handle this, as the past seven people who had come in never did this. They simply sat and asked her mindless questions. It left the girl waiting anxiously for an answer.

"December 4th, 2528." She said, still not looking up from the folders. Raven didn't answer.

"That's your date of birth?" her voice was soft, as if trying to coax a scared child from under the bed.

"Yes." Raven finally said, although her voice was plain; bored even.

"Then you're nineteen."

"Most obviously," Raven replied. She settled with a slightly irritated exterior, although in fact her mind was racing. _How does she know about me? What else do they know?_

"Why so young?" the lady asked.

"I had no choice."

"How so?" she inquired, trying to dig a little deeper. Raven didn't answer, shifting her gaze to stare at the wall. Raven didn't need to speak with this officer. She wouldn't be here for much longer, just until the marine came in for a routine check on her energy cuffs. Every so often, a soldier came in and checked her cuffs, making sure they were still active and tighter than a dog's collar. She had scoped out every inch of his uniform, a small handgun around his belt, a data pad connected to a holster, and a night stick slung around his belt loop. Easy pickings.

"You do understand you have committed a crime and will be punished accordingly?" she asked, her eyes tracing every inch of Raven's face. Raven nodded, although she was not acknowledging the woman speaking in front of her, as her mind was completely focused on working out the intricacies of her plan, though it was not complicated.

"I want to help you. But you have to tell me why you were here, and why you're working for rebels. Raven, they kill people."

Again, Raven did not answer, until something in her head, the very back of her mind, told her to say something. The words were put into her mouth before she even opened it.

"Because," she said quietly, shifting her gaze to lock eyes with the woman, "I don't like losing." The woman sat back, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips in a frown. Raven shifted her gaze back to the wall, and crossed her arms over her chest. Raven could see the woman trying to understand what she had meant, her frown deepening.

The officer slowly stood up, taking the manila folder with her. She steadily walked out the door, and turned to the marine on the outside.

"Make sure her cuffs are extra tight." The woman muttered, before walking the rest of the way out and down the hallway, disappearing from view.

Raven allowed herself a small feeling of satisfaction; she was one step closer to returning to base and one step closer to completing her mission. Now, all she had to rely on was her training, and she'd be home in 04 hours. Raven flexed her wrists, trying to move them around inside the energy cuffs as much as possible, without much success.

She waited for the marine to stroll in and lock the door behind him. He was not particularly tall or muscular, but he still had a gun slung around his belt. She eyed him carefully as he came closer, and took the data pad from its holster, holding it in front of him. He leaned down and placed the data pad next to her hand, and appeared to open up a file, enter a code, and then read the small numbers that appeared. He turned to her cuffs and started tapping in digits on the small keypad in the middle of the cuffs. Raven extended her fingers, just so her fingertips could trace the very back of the device. She felt a cold rush in the back of her skull, and then the data streamed into her head. '237-E9876-1549-jm7n, data- error, data erased' the numbers appeared before her eyes, hard-wired into her brain now. She also accessed the bases schematics, memorizing the layout and saving it to her NACC chip.

She leaned back, just as the cuffs tightened like a vice grip around her wrists. She gritted her teeth, but said nothing. The marine turned, unlocked the door, and resumed his post. Raven smiled on the inside, as she twisted her hand to reach the control pad on the energy cuffs. 237-E9876-1549-jm7n. The buzzing of the energy cuffs faded, until the pressure slackened and the little metal cylinder and keypad clattered to the table. Raven rubbed her wrists, massaging the blood back into her fingers. She pulled up the schematics in her head, finding the room she was in. The base was smaller than she had originally thought, and she was startlingly close to the weapons armory, the data core, and the cargo bay. And most importantly, to all three of her destinations.

A small voice in the back of her head whispered instructions to her; _get to the data core, read the data core. Return to base._ She complied, and lightly stepped over to the air duct in the corner of the room. There was no air vent, but she could see the decrepit metal panel could be peeled back…with some force.

Raven placed her hands on either side of the metal panel, and yanked backwards. The panel made a loud squeaking sound, as the flimsy metal bent and carved away from the wall. A small hole was revealed, just enough space for her to squeeze through. Raven wiggled inside the dark tunnel, a feeling of claustrophobia settling over her. The duct was too flat for her to sit all the way up on her elbows, so she had to shimmy across the cold floor. The air was damp and stale, making it hard to breathe. The silent rumble of an air conditioning unit reverberated down the tunnel way, and Ravens teeth chattered. Once again she pulled up the map of the base, and found the way to the weapons armory. She wanted her guns back. It wasn't that far away, but shuffling across an air duct made everything take forever.

By the time Raven was hovering above the air vent over the armory room, her elbows were bruised and sore. She peered down into the armory through the slits in the air vent, and sighed at what she saw. At least two dozen marines lounged about, cleaning guns, re-arranging equipment or chatting. They wore grey camouflage fatigues, their names and ranks labeled on the front left shoulder. A new feeling of despair filled her, as she was forced to think of leaving her favorite SMG's behind. Raven wasn't sure how long she sat there staring into the armory, but she guessed it was only about nine minutes later when a piercing alarm rang over the speakers. It screeched against Ravens ears, but she somehow managed to push it to the back of her mind. A red security light flashed, illuminating the room with a fiery glow.

The soldiers appeared startled, then snapped into action. They bustled about the room, collecting their rifles and lacing up boots. Some marines shouted to others across the room, then rushed over and shoved something into their hands before rushing off to do something else. Eventually, they all filed out the door, leaving it empty except for a lone marine who fumbled with his rifle magazine.

Raven slowly lifted the vent out of its socket; sure that she would not get another opportunity like this one. She could now see her two SMG's and the knife on the metal table just below her, where she would aim to land. She stuck her legs out the vent and then dropped onto the table, a solid clang spooking the young marine before her. The recruit spun around, his eyes widening even more with surprise. She sprang at him, using her elbow like a battering ram and slamming it into his lower jaw. They crashed into the lockers behind them, and slid to a concrete bench. He reached for his gun at his belt, but she clasped his hand with two fingers and twisted. Three knuckles bent forward, while the other two crunched at an awkward angle. The soldier grunted as his hand went limp. He pulled his right hand back, but she quickly rolled to the left and evaded his strike.

Raven yanked the gun from his belt, and shot him once in the leg, making sure to avoid the vital arteries and bones. The soldier gasped in pain, clutching his leg, but his suffering was not long. Raven struck him in the head with the butt of his magnum, and he slumped to the floor unconscious. She snorted, wishing it was more of a challenge.

Raven threw the gun to the ground, and ran back over to the metal table, collecting her two SMG's, knife, holsters, and small handgun. She clipped her holsters around her legs and locked the SMG's into place. Stuffing the small gun into its place in her combat boots, she snagged her knife and turned towards the air duct located directly three meters above her on the ceiling. There was no way back up. Raven kicked herself, now she would have to run about the halls searching for the other two rooms. She felt like shooting herself right on the spot, but then the little voice in the back of her head whispered, _get to the data core. Retrieve the data. Return to base._ Ravens hand itched and cramped, until she made the decision to stay, and fight her way out. Hopefully she wouldn't run into the ODST's, because this time, she was going down shooting.

She pulled the base schematics into her head, and found the quickest route to the data core. Raven saw a long corridor that traveled down the length of the base, leading directly to the intelligence room, which was hopefully empty by now. She figured all the soldiers would be scouring the places around her cell, not the opposite side of the base. Of course, they knew why she had come, and what she would want to get done before she made her get-away.

The young girl ran out the door, and hung a sharp left, running smack into a trio of soldiers. She dropped to the floor and pulled her magnum from her boots, and fired onto the trooper's exposed knee. He screamed in pain and fell to the floor. The other two recovered more quickly.

"Freeze!" one of them yelled, turning to point his BR at her chest. She landed a hard kick to his head, and used her knee to shove him into the soldier behind him. The marine struggled to catch his fallen comrade and maintain his aim on her chest. She took the moment of hesitation and ripped the BR from his grip, then fired three shots into his abdomen. He doubled over, groaning. She threw his BR down the hall and turned to sprint the rest of the way to the data core, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

When the dull metallic door came into view, Raven unlocked her SMG's from their holsters, and held them tilted slightly downward, as she used her shoulder to shove open the still fried circuits of the electronic lock. Surprisingly, the room was clear, and the normal light blue glow of the data core had returned. Her hands cramped, itching to trace her fingers over the metal surface, and feel the cool trickle of intelligence in her NACC data chip. She tightly holstered her weapons. She strode forward and let her hands hover just above the blue glow. Retrieve the info. Return to base.

Raven let her hands fall onto the data core, its cool metal sending shivers up her spine. The ice cold pang of new data rushed into her data chip, making the back of her skull tingle and buzz with new information. Suddenly, the alarms that had already been going off non-stop, tripled and the sound became unbearable. She had just gotten some kind of file that was very big, and very important. It was encrypted, so she couldn't access it. Whatever it was, it was important. More important than Raven had ever dreamed.

"Warning, warning, security breach. Lock down. Data core compromised. Initiating self-annihilation." A male voice played over the speaker. _Uh oh_. The door she had come into slammed shut with a metal seal that rolled from the top, locking her inside. Without warning, a holographic image of a man dressed in an old tuxedo appeared on the data control panel in front of her.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to give that back." The AI said. Raven snorted, amused.

"I'm not entirely sure you have a say in the matter." she replied. Raven was already in the system, and nothing was going to close her out. The AI could do nothing.

The steady stream of data ran cold, and she knew she had collected the entire needed inventory. Raven removed her hand from the data core, but not before noticing how long she had left before the self-destruct went off. Raven was curious and confused about how the self-destruct had been initiated, as she had not activated it...on purpose. Raven thrust the thought to the back of her mind, as she saw she only had four minutes left, and there was no time for wasteful thinking. Three minutes and fifty-three seconds until it blows, Raven thought. Plenty of time to get to the cargo bay and away from here.

The marines that were trapped in the corridor when the lock down sequence had closed all the exits banged and yelled through the door. Raven paid them no attention; she was safe behind the four inches of re-enforced steel alloy they could not penetrate.

The young girl located the air duct that was luckily low enough for her to reach, rushing to peel back the flimsy metal. She scrambled into the duct and through the narrow tunnel, not caring who heard her now. Speed was critical. She remembered where the cargo bay was, but not exactly how long it would take to get there. Ravens elbows griped in protest, but she did not relent her fast pace. She needed to reach her destination. The cargo bay got closer and closer as she shuffled her way through the vents, following the line to the little locater beacon she had marked on the schematics. Eventually another air vent appeared in front of her, but she had no time to peek through the slits. She kicked it down and dropped through, hoping she found the correct room. Jackpot!

A lone Mongoose and three Warthogs sat in the bay, along with one Pelican. Meager pickings, but it would do. What Raven didn't notice, was the group of a dozen marines that came charging through the open door on her far left. Judging by the scorch marks, they had blown a hole through the door with something that looked like C4.

Raven dove behind the Pelican as shots rang off and bullets pinged the place her head had just been. She took in an eerily calm breath, as her hand began to itch. She would escape. She would complete her mission. And she would win. Raven sprinted from her hiding spot, using the three remaining Warthogs as cover in order to get to the Mongoose that sat at the end of the line of vehicles. A bullet struck too close for comfort next to her, taking out the front light of a Warthog. Another whizzed past her head, and she ducked to keep her profile lower.

The Mongoose came into view just as a shot clipped the edge of a Warthog and planted itself firmly into her left shoulder. She stumbled, but managed to stay running despite the immense pain lacing down her arm.

As her hand touched the Mongoose, it roared to life, the little jeep giving her a spark of hope to cling to. How she powered it up she didn't know, or really care at the moment, whatever got her out of here. Raven suddenly realized another snag in her plan; the bay doors, they were closed. She swung herself onto the Mongoose anyway, she was going to escape, or die trying. With her one good arm, she gunned the engine and spun out of the line of vehicles, straight towards the three foot door of steel.

The engine snarled as she tried to coax more speed out of it, but she was already racing at top speed towards the exit. The doors didn't move for her, and they certainly didn't look like she could go through them, but she kept her speed constant. Eight meters away. Raven ducked her head down and hunched her shoulders.

Bullets still rained down around her, until she heard a metal groan and creaking and someone yelled, "Cease fire!" _Why had they stopped firing?_ Raven wondered, just as the floor dropped out from under her. The Mongoose's windshield was ripped away by the top of the bay doors, barely cracked open enough to let the Mongoose through. If she had taken a Warthog, her fate would have been much different.

She finally looked up from staring at her limp hand, and saw the Pelican flying straight for her. She threw her weight to the right, sending the Mongoose on a curveball, as its wheels glanced across the side of the Pelican's windshield. She locked eyes with a face she recognized, the steely blue eyes, the buzzed black hair of the ODST Major Meyers. Raven didn't know why she did this, perhaps out of her own pride, but she flashed him a grin. A grin that said "not today". They glared at each other for another split second, before her Mongoose spun wildly out of control, but she hung on like a bur.

She thought the worst was over, but when a massive explosion burst her eardrums, she realized she was very wrong. A wave of hot ash rushed around her, and she could already smell the smoke. Fires rained down around her, starting even more flames in the surrounding area. Not to mention she was still falling.

The ground rushed up to meet Raven, the beach sand hard and course. She and the Mongoose crashed into the sand, skidding a few meters before coming to a halt. When Raven pulled herself onto her elbows, she tasted something salty in her mouth. Blood leaked from a gash on her jaw and her shoulder was now completely numb. Somehow, she dragged herself to her feet and trudged to the Mongoose. Luckily it had landed right-side up. Raven fell onto the seat, barely managing to swing her leg over. She looked back at the mess she left behind, the swirling plume of smoke and fire, the wailing sirens, and most importantly, the Pelican that was now smoking from the place her Mongoose had hit, as it glided onto the edge of the landing bay.

Raven slowly restarted the engine as she laid her right hand onto it, and gunned it, the tires spewing sand out behind her before finding traction and peeling off into the forest. She bounced along the beaten path, a path that many Innies used to sneak back and forth between UNSC held bases. She gritted her teeth every time she hit a hard bounce, her mouth filling with more blood. She was sure the UNSC would be looking for her soon, so she remained full throttle the entire way.

Green forests and mossy rocks blurred beside her, melting into one long green playback. She rounded a corner, and then turned right when the road turned left, the pathway to the Rebels base. Evidently, she had made quite the mess, as the Lieutenant Colonel of the Insurrectionists stood outside the base, waiting for her. She pulled up just in front of him, and staggered off the stolen Mongoose.

"Welcome back, Raven." He said slyly, a wicked glint in his black eyes.


	4. More Than A Mission

Chapter Four

1156 Hours, September 17,

2547 (Military Calendar)/

Aboard Covenant Vessel

The Hailstrom, near UNSC/Rebel held Arcadia

Spartan C026, Axton, jogged down the Covenant hallway, his assault rifle locked and loaded in his armored gloves. A shotgun used for emergencies only was slung over his back, ready for the dangerous assignment ahead. He was to infiltrate the cruiser, CCS class, and neutralize the shipmaster. Then make his way to the landing bay and be extracted by a small team of marines in a Pelican. All in a day's work for a Spartan.

A trio of grunts, or Unggoy as the aliens called them, waddled from around the corner, wielding plasma grenades in their knobby fingers. They primed the explosives, and charged the armored human. Suicide mission. He put a burst of armor-piercing bullets through each, as the plasma grenades exploded, sending the room spinning with blue light.

"Which way?" Axton asked his AI, Saratoga. He was quite the strange AI, but Axton somehow managed to put up with the AI's personality "quirks." Saratoga was annoying to others, but Axton found it easier to ignore him, and easier to work well together.

"Hang a left after seven meters, and proceed down the corridor until you find a blue door." Saratoga informed him. "And you may want to hurry; you must have the bay door open in eleven minutes."

"Noted." Axton acknowledged, increasing his speed. He crunched over the fallen grunts, his boots sinking to the floor from his immense weight. The MJOLNIR armor weighed half a ton, not to mention the hundred pounds of gear he carried. Axton followed the map that appeared in the upper left corner of his visor, along with a count-down timer that was now at ten minutes and twenty-seven seconds. The Spartan lengthened his strides.

Suddenly his shields dropped, and the warning alarm wailed in his ears. His motion sensor flashed, and he spun around to face half-a-dozen jackals, their circular energy shields lined up to overlap. The Spartan charged forward, his assault rifle blowing holes through the top of their shields, causing two jackals to fall with a scream. Axton smashed into the nearest one, blowing its shield and sending the jackal flying, crunching against the back wall. The human rolled out of the way as a green plasma bolt whizzed by him. He shoved the butt of his rifle through the forehead of the jackal, and the alien's head caved in. Axton grabbed the next jackal's energy shield, and sent it careening through the air at the other one. Its bird-like head dropped to the floor as the shield sliced through its scraggly neck. The Spartan spun on the last jackal, and crunched its chest in with one swift kick. He scanned his motion sensor, no signatures. Axton fastened one of the jackal's shield to his armored forearm and dumped out the old clip in his assault rifle. A new one clicked into place before the empty one hit the hard floor.

"Eight minutes. Speed it up leadfoot." Saratoga said quietly in his head. The cool presence of the AI's chip in the back of his armor was somewhat unnerving, but Axton had grown accustomed to it, even welcomed the security that the AI brought. Axton wondered how much farther to the shipmasters quarters, if he would even be there, and who he would have to fight through in order to get there. _The more Covenant I kill now_ , he thought, _the less I have to deal with later._

"This one," Saratoga said, placing a marker on the door to the human's right, that instantly slid open as he walked closer. The Spartan clicked the safety off and peered around the corner. Jackals, grunts, and two elites stood in the center of the chamber, staring up at the large window with a web of purple strands and strange markings. The chamber had a purple sheen to it with various columns protruded from the ground that almost seemed to pulse with life. A data center was located at the front, where monitor screens and strange mechanisms sat, buzzing with energy. Two of the aliens stood over three meters tall, stretching even taller than Axton. One of the elites wore gold plating, and an energy sword was poised in one of its paws. The other's armor was tinted a light blue shade, and it wielded a plasma rifle. They hadn't seen him yet, and soon would get a rude awakening.

Axton primed a frag grenade, cooked it for four seconds, and lobbed it into the middle of the group of jackals. The jackals squealed in surprise, their surprise soon turned to warbled gurgles as they were blown to pieces. The remaining grunts threw their hands up and scrambled for cover, squealing with fear. The Spartan entered the room and lunged to get behind one of the structures sticking from the floor. Plasma washed over both sides of the pillar, and Axton's shield lurched to 75%. A plasma grenade exploded, and then another, setting off a chain reaction. Debris rained down around him, and the deck shook with each explosion. Alarms wailed in the humans' ears, but he ignored them. Axton heard the throaty war cry of the Minor Elite, and stuck his rifle out from the protection of the pillar, moving his helmet to peer around the circular edge. The blue alien rushed towards him, the rifle shooting blue bolts of plasma. They missed wildly, but even an untrained soldier could land a lucky shot. The Spartan rolled from cover, firing a sustained burst between the alien's two sets of mandibles. Its blue shields sputtered and died, and the remaining shots blew through the front of the alien's head. Something exploded out the side of the helmet, and leaked down the side. It slumped to the floor, skidding until it stopped at the armored human's feet. Blue blood trickled from the fallen elite and pooled on the floor.

The shipmaster turned to face him, the energy sword buzzing with electricity. It stood a full meter tall than Axton, its maw flexed, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. They stared at one another for a moment, before the gold elite's jaws unhooked, and it growled something unintelligible.

"You shall pay with your life for tainting this ship, your presence here disgraces the prophets!" Saratoga translated for him.

The shipmaster charged toward him, the sword pulled behind its back, preparing to shred the Spartan to ribbons. Axton yanked his shotgun from the strap on his back, discarding his assault rifle, and rushed to meet the gold elite. The distance between them closed rapidly, and the shipmaster thrust the sword towards the Spartans chest. Axton parried, the energy sword skimming his right shoulder and drawing blood. Pain bit into his skin, as the sword remained stuck in his flesh, while the two battled for leverage. The human pulled his shotgun up, and fired it point blank into the golden elite's twisted face. The shield sparked, flashing a bright white light that caused Axton's visor to automatically darken and then return to normal when the light faded.

The elite landed a hard blow to the center of the Spartans chest, boosting him backwards.

Axton slid a few meters back before rolling to his feet, slamming back into the elite and tumbling to the ground. The elite roared, swinging his energy sword, barely missing the humans head. Axton smashed his knee down onto the elite's chest, shoving the air from its lungs, while the elite pounded his torso with a clenched paw.

Four minutes and thirteen seconds remained on the timer.

The Spartan managed to pin the elite's wrist down, but the alien twisted its huge paw and sliced open Axton's right leg, cutting it to the bone. He didn't notice the pain, as he pulled the shotgun up to hover just above the elite's mandibles. He pulled the trigger. Blue blood splattered the outside of his faceplate, and a gurgled cry was cut off from leaving the elites throat. The golden shipmaster went slack, the energy sword clattering onto the ground. The Spartan reviewed his vital signs: elevated blood pressure, all internal organs intact, and minor blood loss. For now. A stream of blood continued to gush from his right leg, and dribbled over the outside of his MJOLNIR armor. Axton stood up from the elite's corpse and pulled out a medic bag. He sprayed biofoam into the open wound, staunching the blood and holding the wound closed. He then sprayed a small jet into his shoulder, and cold touched his flesh.

"Haul your iron ass out of there Spartan." Saratoga reminded him, the timer in the corner of his visor blinking red _. Right, got to get moving_ , Axton thought.

He retrieved his assault rifle, slung his shotgun over his shoulder, and set out at a brisk jog from the now-dead shipmaster's quarters. According to the schematics, he had approximately half a click to cover in order to reach the drop bay. Time to get moving.

A small UNSC ship was on course to rendezvous with him in the Covenant bay, its doors opened and the shields already dropped. Axton had entered on the Pelican that would extract him in two minutes and fifty-two seconds, and then reunite with a UNSC ship that had a shaw-fujikawa drive. They would execute the cole-protocal, and proceed to return to earth.

He absentmindedly cut down a group of exposed and un-expecting grunts, clearing the path to the launch bay. Axton wound his way through the confusing hallways of the Covenant cruiser, often pausing to ask Saratoga where the next turn was.

Another group of jackals rounded a corner and opened fire on him. He powered up the jackal shield acquired earlier, seconds before the green plasma splashed against his own shields. He charged them, ramming his energy shield into the nearest jackal's exposed side. He disposed of the remaining bird-like creatures in a similar fashion.

The Spartan broke into a dead run when he saw the timer hit 60 seconds.

"Hang right lugnut!" Saratoga yelled, the door coming up faster than the AI had anticipated. The Spartan cut right and almost smashed into two massive closed doors. The hangar bay.

"S, I need this open now." The Spartan growled. Any setback now was beyond frustrating. Axton called Saratoga 'S' sometimes, as Saratoga was too long for quick-paced combat.

"Right, on it," Saratoga accessed the Covenant command codes, searching for the correct ones to open the hangar doors. Firewalls flared up, but Saratoga easily cut through them like butter. He was slightly amused; the Covenant were so rudimentary on occasion. He bypassed the security measures and forced the bay doors open.

"You do realize your suit's integrity has been breached? If the bay doors are open…" Saratoga said quietly.

"Open the doors," was Axton's annoyed response.

"Hangar bay doors opening."

The doors slowly slid back into the walls, the energy shields protecting the air pressure in the hallway disappeared. Axton could still feel his feet on the floor, so he guessed the hangar doors were thankfully closed. One Pelican sat idly in the center of the hangar bay, maneuvered precisely so it didn't hit any of the other Covenant vehicles. Ghosts, banshees, and seraphs were stashed here. The room had the same purple tinted floors and walls as the hallways and shipmasters quarters. A small group of marines held a perimeter around the Pelican, all their weapons trained on Axton's head. When they saw him, they immediately dropped their weapons and saluted, save for a few who stood gaping. He didn't blame them; a man standing at over two meters tall encased in half-a-ton of armor was quite mouth-dropping. Axton marched forward, metal clanking against metal as he walked.

"Good to see you, sir, cutting it kind of close. We were just about to pack up." the female pilot said. She wore olive fatigues with a small handgun tucked in a holster. He nodded to her as he thumped up the drop ramp into the back of the Pelican.

"Move it Marines!" one of the field officers barked, as the men filed into the aircraft. They gave the Spartan a wide birth. All the marines knew that death followed the Spartan like a shadow.

"Clear for departure. Going to be a hot exit, banshees and seraphs in position outside bay doors." The marines hung tight to metal loops hanging from the top of the craft, used as handles in rough situations. The pilot turned the Pelican around, and slowly guided it towards the hangar doors. Axton watched intently out the side window, knowing the last part of a mission was the most dangerous. CPO Mendez had taught him well. Axton remembered briefly his rigorous training on Reach, where he had been pushed to become the UNSC's most dangerous weapon. Axton snapped out of it, annoyed at how easily he had lost focus.

As the doors slid open, everyone was dumbstruck at the scene before them: the UNSC vessel that had brought them in was just a whisper of debris and pieces of shrapnel. Every bit of it covered in plasma burns. Dead marines floated in zero gravity, their mouths open in silent screams. Banshees flew like angry bees around the cruiser, waiting for the Pelican to re-emerge. Immediately after leaving the launch bay, all of them swarmed the Pelican. Green splashes of plasma erupted around the aircraft, and the marines were knocked to the floor. Axton simply gripped onto the metal loops tighter, careful not to dent the hand-holds. The craft shook violently, sparks sizzling from the controls. The pilot struggled to keep it upright, but evidently lost control when another swath of plasma bolts crashed into the side, knocking the Pelican towards the nearby planet. Too close.

The craft shuddered again, its titanium-A shell grinding from the pressure. The gravity of the planet below began to tug at the craft, pulling it closer and closer to its burning atmosphere.

"Spartan," Saratoga said, "lock your armor."


	5. Broken Ties

Chapter Five

1200 Hours, September 17,

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Arcadia, Outskirts of Abaskun City,

Inside Insurrectionist Base

Raven hobbled down the green hallway, her right foot protesting whenever she put weight on it. After assuring the Lieutenant Colonel she had gotten the intelligence, and that she wouldn't think of returning without it, he had instructed her to deposit the files from her NACC chip into the data base of the Insurrectionist rebel hide-out, and then proceed to the medical room.

Machine guns and stolen turrets surrounded the base, protecting it from a small UNSC invasion that the rebels feared would come sooner rather than later. The base was filled with semi-trained civilians, although most could barely able to shoot a gun straight. They were the ones who had a bit more courage than the rest.

The base was located close to a civilian colony, Aloide, which was neither Insurrectionists nor UNSC. Neutral. It was a large colony, fairly advanced, with no real aggression ever being shown from its governor. It also happened to be Ravens home, where she'd grown up, where her parents and sibling lived now, and where she'd always have painful ties. She'd struck out at the age of eight, and had paid dearly for her decision.

Raven scratched the back of her head, where her NACC chip was located, otherwise known as the Neural Automated Communication Conductor, which was found in her deep limbic system. Whenever she laid her right hand on a machine, of any kind, she automatically had control of its commands, data, and apparently on vehicles, the engines. It hadn't stopped itching since she had stolen the data from Bravo Base 070. Sometimes it was too complicated for even her to understand. Raven didn't like that.

She was unsure how the Insurrectionist's acquired an NACC, but she guessed in a similar fashion to her 'borrowing' the UNSC intelligence.

Raven continued down the hall, passing officers on patrol, nodding to them. She knew everyone at this base, and everyone knew and respected her, as her accomplishments where well known. Raven had no real rank, as she technically was not military personal, but she was second in command to Lieutenant Colonel Kam. Although she rarely gave orders, Raven still enjoyed the prowess she received.  
"Raven Stone, please report to the data center." A female voice sang over the speakers. It was Annie, the Innies AI, basically telling her to hurry up and let her peek through the files Raven stole. Annie loved knowing the secrets of the nooks and crannies in the UNSC, and continuously pressed Raven for more and more info. Annie was nearing her fifth year of operation, so she was fully capable of her mental functions, and would be for a few more years. Hopefully.

Stone lengthened her strides, increasing her pace. A few moments later, Raven entered the empty data storage room. It was cold and damp in here, and made the girl feel like she was constantly under surveillance. Raven shivered but trudged forward farther into the room.

A single console lingered in the middle, shaped like a vase with a liquid pool of black ooze suspended above it. A holographic version of Annie appeared on top of the glowing ball of liquid and fake-smiled up at Raven. Annie had faded red hair, and an angular face. She wore a dimmed yellow sundress that swished in a virtual wind.

"Hurry now, we need some new warthogs to go along with the two pelicans and the scorpion." Annie chimed, impatiently tapping her small foot. Raven felt a small pang of accomplishment as her intel had gotten the rebels more resources. Raven also liked that the NACC automatically transferred small files to Annie, without it, the rebels could not have received the data files and the ODST's would have still been on the base. The only down part was that the AI was unable to receive large files, or hold onto the smaller ones for an extended period of time, so Raven still had to upload them into Annie's core. Luckily, Annie was specifically designed to receive the data at a distance, act on the most important one, and wait to acquire a hard copy of them. Raven sighed, and strolled over, her hand hovering just before the goo ball.

"Raven." Annie hissed impatiently. Raven knew what to expect, but it still shocked her as she thrust her hand into the orb.

A hot spike crashed into Raven, her vision blurring and then completely went black. She staggered, but remained standing, as only her mind perceived these side effects, and they weren't truly a physical threat. Ravens mind ached like someone had shot a rocket through her ears, and her skull a cracked egg. She felt the AI start sorting through the new files from the NACC chip, reading them as she copied them to her system. The AI absentmindedly hummed happily as she worked, until Raven felt Annie suddenly stop, as if she'd run into a brick wall head-on.

Suddenly, Annie gasped in horror, something Raven had never heard her do. Ravens vision flooded back to the dark room, the blackness running from her sight. The room quit spinning, and settled back into its normal rhythm. Annie's image disappeared from the vase-like table, but not before a stricken look crossed her face _. What was happening_? _The AI had never behaved like this,_ Raven thought. Raven waited with furrowed brows as Annie's voice flowed out of the speaker, strained.

"Colonel Kam, report to the data core immediately, bring security," she said. Raven automatically reached for her dented and banged up SMG's who had taken the brunt of the fall (not to mention a bruise shaped like one of them on her right leg) but then realized she was in friendly territory. She trusted these people. Raven let her hands fall back to her sides.

The lieutenant burst into the chamber a few moments later, a team of six soldiers following close behind him. Four of them lined up on the walls beside the door, and the other two trailed behind Kam into the chamber.

"What is the meaning of this, Annie?" the colonel asked, anger steaming from his eyes.

"Her," Annie said, her hologram re-appeared onto the console and motioned to Raven. The colonel turned to stare at Raven, his black shark-like eyes boring into her. He was thin and tall, with greasy black hair. She had known him all her life, even begun to consider him a sort of father figure. Raven shrugged her shoulders, she knew no more than he.

"What about it?" he asked, suspicion rising in his voice.

"I found something on her chip…something way above her pay-grade." Annie answered, seeming to hold back.

"Well what is it?!" Kam yelled, his anger building.

"A UNSC encrypted file. Whatever she picked up when she was on Bravo Base was big and very important. I tried to crack it…but the UNSC have it heavily guarded, I do not have the required programming to break it." Annie huffed, obviously disappointed at not knowing the files secrets.

Raven considered this, all the puzzle pieces suddenly clicking into place. The annoying tingling in her data chip, the way the alarms had tripled when she infiltrated the system and stole the files, and how the UNSC had tried so hard to halt her escape. Raven wondered what she had stumbled upon, what fascinating adventure would lie ahead.

"How important?" Kam's black eyes narrowed, processing what this meant.

"So immensely important the UNSC will be banging down our doors just to retrieve it. And if that fails, they will blow us to bits."

Kam paled. This was the rebel's worst nightmare, their efforts halted, and their entire cause wiped out. This base was the last one left on Arcadia, and without them the UNSC would be free to have the planet all to themselves, to enslave and use as cannon fonder for the Covenant. He would now allow that to happen, even if it meant shoving a knife through the young girls back that stood in front of him, totally relaxed despite the situation.

"Back up her NACC chip, re-upload the file back into her head. Don't leave any trace of it. I want her off of this base in two, and if she refuses to leave, stick her in front of one of the turrets on the west side." Kam turned, and quickly paced out the chamber, his hands nervously stroking his slick hair.

"Wait! What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Raven shouted, as the two soldiers came forth and grabbed her arms, she struggled only slightly, too stunned at the betrayal of the Lieutenant Colonel. Of all the people here, he was the least likely one to stab her in the back. Or so she thought.

The strange tingling in her head returned as Annie wiped the system of all its contents, trying to destroy every last trace of it, almost as if it had never been there. The men hauled her to the front of the base where she had entered, and dragged her out onto the hard dirt. They shoved her to the ground, a few meters away from the edge of the forest. They turned and jogged back onto the base wordlessly. Raven just looked after them in stunned confusion.

"Please leave the area, kid. I don't want to have to fire the turrets on you." Annie's voice popped into her head. The NACC also doubled as a communication COM.

"I don't-" the girl tried to answer, but the now enemy turrets turned to train on her chest. She heard the clank of metal as the clip for the turret rounds were inserted into its chamber, and prepared to fire.

Out of pure instinct, Raven spun on to her feet and sprinted off into the forest, as fast as she could with an injured ankle. She never did receive that medical attention.

The ground where she had just been sitting lit up with the seven centimeter rounds of the machine gun, pounding against the earth. She ran faster. She was already exhausted from the events of the day, and only adrenaline kept her going. She crashed through the brush, twigs snapping and crunching as they tried to claw at her.

She leapt over a fallen log, but her long pants caught on one of the jagged branches, and flipped her mid-air until she landed with a _thwump_ on the hard ground. The air rushed from her lungs, and she remained stunned for several seconds, gasping for breath and staring up between the gaps in the canopy.  
Eventually, Ravens heart stopped pounding, and she was able to slowly get to her feet. Now her lungs burned as well. She was surrounded with nothing but green forests, and a small stream that trickled to the east of her. She knew where this river led, but she didn't care now, she followed it anyways.

Her mind was numb, and thankfully so was the pain, as Raven trudged on. She didn't know why her friends -her family- had betrayed her so harshly, and then tried to blow holes in her. What was so important about the intel that she carried? Bravo Base 070 was only supposed to have inventory, the location of vehicles, weapons armories etc., not top secret files that would cause the UNSC to send troops for her. This was not what she had signed up for.

Raven continued stumbling through the thick vegetation, tree limbs grasping at her, until her boots sunk into mushy ground. The side of a mountain. The stream she had followed cut through it, but it was much too narrow for Raven to crawl in and out the other side. So Raven went up.

It was steep and slippery from recent rain, and rocks would occasionally tumble all the way down the side and crash at the bottom with a resounding _schrack._

The girl's legs began to burn near the top, but Raven banished the throbbing from her conscious and continued upwards. The sun was just about to fall below the mountains opposite the valley from her, and Arcadia's two moons, Pishon and Gihon, were just beginning to peek out through the scattered clouds in the sky. Only a few traces of warm rays of light remained as Raven made her way over the last little hang-off, and slid onto the sandstone plateau that marked the tip of the mountain. It was flat and hard, and a few large boulders riddled the top. A dark, shallow cave gaped at her from across the plate of dirt.

The girls' leg shook, and she shuffled to a boulder, collapsing, panting against the cool surface. Ravens shoulder smoldered and stung where the stray bullet had struck her back at the base, and the blood was just now starting to dry. Her body was black and blue, with small cuts strewn on her arms and legs. The ankle that she had tweaked was now red and swollen, throbbing on the inside of her black boots. Raven sighed, trying to ignore the pain like she had been taught. She wasn't very good at it. She wished Kam had killed her, or she hadn't been quite quick enough to escape the turrets reach. She settled down by fiddling with her SMG's, rubbing off the dirt and trying to get the dents out. Just as the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon, Raven noticed a distant smoke mushroom billowing up into the dwindling light, but she didn't make the connection to Bravo Base. Neither did she notice the covenant fleet that slowly drifted into the planet's atmosphere.


	6. Convergence

Chapter Six

Age of Doubt/Age of Reclamation

Carriers Vengeance/

Covenant Cruiser

Bridge

The Sangheili Shipmaster, Sheal'Ahljm, perched atop the throne that looked over his bridge crew. As Sheal awaited his answer, he grew more irritated as the silence continued. A cluster of idiotic Unggoy shuffled their feet against the ground, occasionally whispering nervous remarks to the brother next to them. Another moment of silence passed, and Sheal was done waiting.

"Well?!" he roared, pounding his immense fist down onto the top of an unsuspecting Unggoy, shattering its methane tank and crushing its skull. Gas hissed from the fallen Unggoys mask, causing the entire crew to flinch in their seats. No one came forth, they all knew whoever delivered the bad news to the dangerous Sangheili would not live to see his methane tank refilled. They uncertainly muttered to themselves, until a lone Kig'yar slithered up to him, its eyes never meeting Sheal's. The elite glared down on him, barely containing his rage.

"We discovered the source of the corruption, o'great warrior Sheal'Ahljm." The Kig'yar, Zoune, groveled.

"And?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"The human maggots erased one of the files, and then attempted to cover their armor-less-" Sheal cut him off, "What file?" the Sangheili snarled, his anger again returning like a hot flash.

"Something encrypted. The rebels have withheld the info they have promised for their lives. The humans guarded it most heavily…it is too protected for your crew to decipher remotely unless we upload it directly into the system." Zoune said quietly, motioning to the control unit.

"Then we must fetch The Carrier. Trace the location immediately. How important, exactly, to the UNSC scum?"

"They've already begun searching for The Carrier, brave and honorable-"

"Betrayal! Heretics! They have broken the agreement! I shall burn them all, spill their blood onto the planet's crust!" Sheal roared, smashing his fist into the Kig'yar, sending him spiraling across the room only to slump lifelessly to the ground.

"But majesty, the fleetmaster Keld'Narem has instructed us to keep The Carrier human alive," one of the deacon Unggoy squealed to his left, "to kill them all would be heresy."

Sheal slowly turned toward the Deacon, his paw resting on the energy sword attached to his waist. Sheal realized he had been given a great honor to carry out a fleetmaster's will, and would not betray his blood line because of the pathetic heretics. He straightened from his maddened cursing, and his eyes cooled to the point the deacon could see would be of reasonable judgment.

"Of course, Deacon, you are correct. But the heretic's treachery will not go unpunished." Sheal amended, his huge paws balling into clenched fists. "After they have been utterly annihilated, inform the fleetmaster so they may leave orbit. The Boardwalk of Justice will stay in the atmosphere to collect The Carrier. Now, little Unggoy, alert the crew. Set course for the heretic colony Aloide, along with the rebel humans."

"O' great and noble Shipmaster, what of the UNSC base?"

"Mediocre. They are insignificant filth." Sheal barked.

The crew bustled about the bridge, readying weapons and spreading the word, excitement suddenly buzzing through the air. Sheal sat back down onto the throne, watching his crew intently, his mandibles pulled back into a toothy grin. Sheal delighted in this part, he enjoyed every second of causing the humans pain and torment.

The ship lurched forward as its thrusters pushed it inwards towards Arcadia. There shields dropped only slightly when the planets fiery atmosphere tried to eat away at the hull.

Sheal could see the human base, and itched to say the words that would blow them to bits, but it was not the prophets will and not his decision to make. The fleet continued forward, coming to a screeching halt just above the heretic colony. The rest of the fleet was close behind, waiting for his orders to attack.

"Charge the plasma cannons, kill them all." And with that Sheal'Ahljm sat back, watching his fleet surround the human city.

Bryan sprinted down the steps, as another explosion rocked his two story wooden house. He was thrown against the stairwell and crashed down the rest of the stairs, his shoulders taking the brunt of the fall. When he somehow staggered to his feet, his vision was bloodied and black.

The windows in the small house had burst open from the first plasma shots that rained down on the colony, and fires raged inside. A red glow rushed in from the outside, giving it an eerie smolder. Everything inside the home was crushed and burning, all his precious memories ripped away in a matter of seconds.

Another explosion ruptured through the house, spinning Bryan onto his back and slamming his head against the wrecked table. Stars careened across his vision, but he chased them away and fought back to his feet. He suddenly remembered why he had crashing down the stairs with such urgency.

"Lisa!" he yelled, his voice drowned out by the screams and buildings tumbling to the ground just beyond his doors.

"Lisa!" Bryan screamed. No answer. He frantically scanned the room, until his eyes fell on a charred and broken figure. Lisa. He slowly shuffled over to her, his mind not wanting to believe what his eyes were thrusting upon him. A piece of glass was lodged in her temple.

Once more, Bryan found himself falling through another splintered door, and faltering onto the street three steps below him. His knees scraped against the ground and he felt warm liquid streaming from his open wounds. Bryan looked to the sky, tears clearing the dirt and blood from his mangled face.

Shark-like Covenant cruisers swarmed the city, covering everything in a cascade of lavender plasma. The sky was black with ash and soot, and in the distance red beams struck the ground like wild lightning bolts. Structures were ablaze, and people were leaping screaming from open windows, only to get vaporized by a wave of plasma. Massive cracks began to worm their ways into the asphalt at Bryans feet, and a few unlucky souls plummeted into them.

Bryan shook to his feet, turning to face the closest covenant dropship to him. _I_ _'_ _m on my way Lisa_ , Bryan thought, as a red beam of light erupted from the bottom of the ship and made its way for him. The ground shook as it grew near, and Bryan was forced onto his knees. He closed his eyes, and spread his arms wide, soaking up the heat as a crimson radiance washed over his frozen body.


	7. Less Than Fortunate

Chapter Seven

0900 hours, September 18

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Arcadia, Bravo Base 070

The covenant was back. Fourteen years of tense apprehension and the covenant had finally ended the silence and come back for them. And this time, the UNSC could do nothing but watch and wait. When the covenant had entered orbit, only a small group of vessels were there to defend Arcadia, and they were soon dispatched of. With the naked eye, Walkers could see bright flashes of plasma burning through their hulls.

"Contact the ONI base; I want General Barnes on COM." Walkers barked. There was silence, and then he could hear the muffled chatter coming from the warrant officers COM.

"Receiving transmition. Our communication vessel has been completely destroyed, along with the small convoy in orbit. General Barnes was aboard one of those vessels. We have no link to the rest of the UNSC…" She said quietly, her eyes glued to the monitor before her.

Walker sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Who is next in command?" More silence.

"You, sir." the officer replied after a moment. "We need orders sir."

Walkers head spun, another weight hefted on his feeble shoulders. A few hours ago he had been eating lunch blissfully unaware of the panic to ensue, and now he felt like his lunch was about to make a reappearance.

"Make a base-wide announcement to remain neutral. Don't draw attention," The last thing they needed was to piss off the covenant more than they already had.

General Walkers watched wordlessly as the Covenant proceeded to leisurely glass the colony called Aloide, and then the Insurrectionist base. Although the video from the satellite was mute, he could still feel the anguished screams. Walkers had no feelings for the Innies, but the small colony close to them was filled with innocent people. And all he could do was watch.

The only communication they had was with Skerilla, which was scattered in pieces slowly floating above Arcadia. To add to the good news, the regularly scheduled supply load from a small UNSC frigate was not due back for another few weeks, so their only hope was burning up in Arcadias orbit. All they had was a base filled with minimally trained security personnel, and a handful of ODST's. What chance did they have against a massive covenant fleet? None. The answer, was none. Even if they had a UNSC fleet, the covenant ships would still outnumber them. They had only won when the covenant was vastly out-matched, and usually lost half its fleet as well. The covenant was simply too advanced, their stolen technology superior to humans' in every way. The UNSC was fighting a losing battle, and every single soldier enlisted knew it.

Walkers guessed the only reason Earth was still blissfully unaware of how dire their situation was the SPARTAN-II's, specially selected augmented super soldiers who went tromping about in a thousand pounds of armor. The general had only seen one in his life, back on a small expedition to a backwater planet to recover a group of stranded marines. What it was doing there though, he hadn't the slightest idea. He was just glad they were on the same side.

The general winced as he saw another burning building tumble to the ground. The colony Aloide was covered in screaming purple banshees, who picked off any survivors that were lucky enough to avoid the first torrent of plasma. If lucky was what you could call it. A burning fury began to rise within him, watching this peaceful colony burn to ashes. Of course, this is what the covenant did everywhere, preying on the weak and moving to the next guiltless colony, and right now, there was nothing anyone could do to change this.

He barely heard as the door to the control room swung open and Major Meyers stormed in, his blue eyes falling on Walkers. He snapped off a salute, and then strode forward to stand in front of the general. Meyers hid it well, but Walkers could see he was near quivering with rage. He was still fully suited in his ODST armor, and his faceplate slid down. His armor was stained black with scorch marks, most likely from running through the halls that still had flames in them from the data core detonation. Meyers gripped a DMR in one hand, the safety switched to off.

"Sir. Permission to hunt down the-" he stopped short when he saw the video being displayed on the monitor. Another portion of the colony was covered in flames, the rebel base completely reduced to embers. Two pelicans attempted to escape from the rebel's base, but a swath of plasma blew gaping holes in their sides, flaming Innies tumbling to the ground.

Meyers looked back to Walker, the anger draining from his body. Whatever he wanted before was gone from his mind.

"What are your orders sir?" he asked, his voice void of emotion. Now he had yet another painful decision to make, and left the general staring blankly ahead for a moment.

"You said your team was ready to be deployed Major?"

"Yes sir."

The general could see the Covenant forces pulling back, satisfied they had sufficiently engulfed the passive colony in flames. He could barely make out a handful of ground forces still searching the streets for survivors, made up of mostly elites and grunts. If civilians were down there, alive, it was the UNSC's duty to help them.

"I want you in that colony, find any survivors you can." The general turned back to studying the monitor, hoping he had made the correct choice.

"Yessir." Meyers said, determination strong in his voice. Walkers knew the ODST's loved any sort of dangerous objective that involved high stakes, pissing off the covenant, and massive explosions. But Walkers couldn't help wondering about how many good men he might have sent to die. _Would there be too many alien forces left for a small team to handle?_ _That_ _'_ _s what they signed up for right? To defend humanity from this onslaught?_

Walkers began tapping a pen on his cheek, leaving little red marks as his anxiety deepened. Walkers let the air slowly drain from his lungs, and turned to the woman sitting at a desk and reviewing the bases' current status.

"Jenson, report." Walkers ordered, turning to the young warrant officer, Ren Jenson. The private was a quiet, hard-working data analyzer suited with short blonde hair and brown eyes. She looked up at the general, obviously unhappy with the bases' condition.

"Fires in sections 3, 4, and 7, data core completely inert, and four security personnel are injured." She said, a frown on her face. Walkers gritted his teeth, the Innie had caused more damage than he had thought. She was in and out within two hours, escaping custody and getting exactly what she came for. She seemed to know precisely when the ODST's left, and when to make her escape. How she knew this though, was unfathomable to him.

"Put those fires out, and get the AI back online, I want to know exactly what the rebel got." Walkers announced. His loyal crew immediately set to carrying out his orders, seemingly disregarding the covenant armada and impending doom hovering just above their heads. _Was he even fit to be leading them?_

"The ODST's are departing sir. Should reach Aloide within the hour." Jensen interrupted his reverie. Walkers tensely scrutinized the monitor until he saw Bravo Base's two warthogs barrel into view, screeching to a halt just on the outskirts of the colony. Nine little specks filed out, then disappeared into the smoke laden city. Everyone in the control room quieted.

"They've entered the city, searching for survivors now." The apprehension was palpable.

Jensen's voice cut, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

"Encountered heavy resistance, currently engaging. They think it was an ambush sir." All Walkers could hear from the muffled COM unit was shouting, and gunfire.

"Get me eyes on them!" He snapped, panic rising in the pit of his stomach. _Of course it was an ambush. They knew the whole time what we were planning, and I led them right into the maw of the beast._

Jenson furiously smashed in buttons on the keyboard in front of her, cursing and then retyping a command she misspelled.A moment later and the satellite image blurred dark green and brown, as it zoomed in on the helljumpers position. The entire control room hushed as the scene unfolded before them.

Enormous cracks rippled through the pavement below their feet, gaping holes attempting to swallow the city. A red sky loomed above the broken colony, lighting up with bolts of sizzling plasma. Two crumpled buildings had collapsed inwards, blocking off the ODST's exits. They were pinned down behind a pile of rubble, plasma shots beginning to burn through the back. They were rotating taking shots, lobbing grenades, and protecting their little outpost. Walkers was transfixed with their deadly accuracy, never a bullet wasted.

A group of elites, grunts, and jackals maneuvered to either side of the helljumpers, surrounding them from all angles. By the time Walkers realized there was only eight ODST's huddling behind the debris, a rocket from an RPG spun off the top of a nearby building that was only moderately collapsed. The aliens erupted in a mushroom of heat and fire, taking out a chunk of the ground forces. It was a short lived victory, as more and more came forward to take the places of their fallen comrades.

The general's stomach knotted as one of the soldiers' fell, followed by another as the Covenant continued their ruthless assault. Heads began to turn away, not wanting to see anymore, but Walkers didn't. Their deaths were on his head, and he'd be damned if he didn't have the decency to watch them die. It now became apparent he made the wrong decision.

"General Walkers… there's still a soldier on top of the other building, the one that fired the RPG. Shall I request a retreat?" Jenson asked, switching the satellites view to peer down on the lone ODST.

"Make it an order."

She nodded and typed a few commands into her keyboard, and nodded to the general. Walkers could see the little figure freeze mid-reload of his RPG, hesitating. The ODST slowly finished reloading, and slid the RPG over his back, slinking back into the shadows on top of building. The tracking signal disappeared a moment later, causing everyone's heart to skip a beat, only to reappear twenty meters outside of the sweltering colony, weaving back to the drop zone. Walkers let out a shaky breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"On my way to the pickup. For what it's worth, I would have preferred to die with my team." Meyer's emotionless voice broke the silence over Walkers COM.

"You're going to have to make it far enough away for ground pickup; it's too hot for air support," Jensen replied.

"Copy that."

Walkers leaned back, rubbing his temples and squeezing his eyes shut. His mistake had cost eight men their lives. He should have known the aliens would be ready for resistance.

"There's nothing you could have done sir." Jensen reminded him, continuing to stare at the screen, seemingly unable to tear her eyes away.

"Get the AI up and running, officer." Walker replied, through with regretting the matter. What was done was done.

"Yessir, almost done," Jenson said, finally turning her back on the monitor and tapping away at her keyboard. A moment later, the hologram of Mark, Bravo Base's AI, appeared on the console behind him.

An alarm wailed from the speakers, and red lights strobed inside the control room.

"Oops," the AI said, "self-destructing messes with your circuits." The alarm slowly died down, and the blinking lights returned to the normal rhythm.

Mark was a fairly straight-forward kind of AI, not usually the joking type but occasionally cracking a wry remark. He wore a faded tuxedo and dirt brown hair down to his elephant ears, with one long strand in the back. He was a 'dumb' AI, but still suited Bravo Base nicely.

"What did the Innie take?" Walkers asked, desperate for any progress.

"I'm not entirely sure, but whatever she used to collect the data was extremely advanced, it blocked me out completely. I was shut down from the inside." Mark amended, sounding just the slightest bit perplexed.

"Advanced as in… covenant technology?"

"Of sorts."

"Explain."

Mark breathed in a full breath of air, even though it was a human trait and lacking in any benefit to the AI.

"She didn't plug anything in to hack the system, or I would have been able to halt her efforts. All she did was _touch_ the data core and wha-la, she was in."

Walkers brow furrowed in confusion, how was that possible? Accessing secure data without even pressing a button? He stepped slightly closer to Mark, a smug look coming over his face.

"That's impossible. You must have missed something." Walkers stubbornly said, not willing to believe something he didn't see with his own eyes.

"Oh but it is. The idea was supposedly discontinued in 2520, due to the subject losses and malfunctions, but it appears it has now resurfaced.

The rebels began experimenting with new technology, implanting a sort of chip into the deep limbic system of certain subjects that would then transmit data back to a set AI. The AI would then process the data as best they could, but in order to save the data and fully analyze it, it has to be manually uploaded into the system. The bigger the file, the less that can be transferred long distance."

Walker tried to comprehend what he had just heard, but he found himself just staring blankly at Mark in confusion.

"So…what?" Walkers inquired.

"So it seems we have an NACC chip carrier on our hands. A Neural Automated Communication Conduct. It explains how Alpha Base was able to be infiltrated so quickly, as soon as the rebel acquired the files here it was automatically sent to their AI, who dispatched a team to the exact location with all the information needed.

The only problem was the rebels couldn't complete such advanced technology without help, and most likely traded with the covenant in order to acquire the needed tech to create the chip."

Walkers stopped short, he knew the Insurrectionist had traded with the covenant, but never on Arcadia. What had they traded for the technology? All the intel that the NACC chip picked up? Walkers hoped not, the girl had stolen a respectable amount of intelligence. The general was losing patience with the AI, all this talk of "what if's" and "i'm not sure," was not what he wanted to hear. He needed answers.

"And general, one more thing," Mark said, "She found something in the system even I didn't know was there. An encrypted file. If I attempt to decode it, the file will automatically upload a virus into my system, destroying my central core and shutting down every system on this base."

Walkers sighed, here was the catch. Of course there was something wrong. The general knew he would regret this, but asked anyway.

"And?"

"We have no way of knowing what's in that file."

Walker took comfort in the fact there was nothing important on this planet, let alone a single file. This base only had basic inventory, no top secret files that could accelerate the extinction of the human race.

"But the rebels… maybe they haven't sold the data to the covenant yet. And now it looks like they won't get the chance." Jenson spoke up from her desk. She was correct, the rebels may not have had a chance to contact the covenant…and clearly they never should have in the first place. Nothing was left of the rebel's base but ash. There was always a possibility that the girl had been killed when the covenant attacked their base, or her and the file could have escaped and still be roaming the outskirts of Pirth, the former proud capitol of Arcadia.

"What are the chances the file is still active?" Walkers said, turning back to the maps of the planet, studying the places the Insurrectionist base and Aloide used to be.

"Fifty fifty." There was a moment of silence, before the generals COM buzzed in his ear. Walkers jumped at the sudden noise, and he slowly clicked it to an open channel.

"Sir," came Meyer's calm voice. Walker thought he heard a strange quirk in the man's tone, but he was sure it was from the recent death of his team. The deaths that he had caused.

"I'm at the pickup point, send for the hog'."

"Dispatch the warthog." Walkers said to Jenson.

"ETA in 27 minutes." She replied calmly, her eyes glued to the screen.

Walkers turned and paced back and forth, some of the personnel in the control room looking up from their work to watch him. They all knew the covenant was glassing the planet, and yet they all remained silent, busily tapping away at their stations. Walkers couldn't help but admire their calm resolve. Walkers just hoped he'd live long enough to commend them for their efforts.

"General Walkers, take a look at this sir."

He halted in his tracks and paced back to Jenson's desk, his train of thought lost.

"The covenant…they are pulling back."

"Bring it up," He commanded, staring at the monitor. The screen shifted, another blur of black soot and crimson fires.

The fleet of purple-green covenant ships appeared on the screen, nearly blocking out the image. Small hunched figures stepped into a purple gravity lift and zipped up into a drop-ship. Elites. A group of banshees slowly filed into the back of a Phantom, and the ship drew back, following a larger cruiser, most likely carrying the fleetmaster.

One ship in particular caught his attention. This covenant ship was not the biggest ship and certainly not the most dangerous, but it was one that was not used commonly. It was zealot-classed, a specialized group of elites that were dedicated to finding any and all forerunner artifacts. The ship was smaller and more streamline than the regular shark-like cruisers, and always carried double the firepower along with re-enforced security. These artifacts were said to be the holy grail of the covenant armada. It stayed in orbit, though at such at distance it was hard to make out among the smoke. Walkers watched in shock as the fleet slowly drifted up and into Arcadia's atmosphere, before disappearing into tiny black flecks in the sky.

"Retreating to glass the planet from orbit?" Another analyst offered. It was unheard of for the covenant to leave a job half-finished, let alone three quarters of a planet untouched. They were up to something.

"Negative…enemy is powering drives to enter slipspace." Ren said, shaking her head in confusion.

"Orders sir?" She asked, finally looking up at him.

Walkers turned away and paced again, once again the lives of everyone on this base -and the planet- were resting firmly on his shoulders. The pressure was no doubt going to give him a heart attack. Walker sighed, coming to a halt beside Jenson.

"Continue base repaires."

"Sir, if I may ask, what are we going to do about the covenant?"

"All we can do. Pray that they leave this planet be." He turned, and slowly sauntered out of the control room doors, hoping he hadn't just killed every living person on the planet.


	8. Unfortunate Circumstances

Chapter Eight

1100 Hours, September 18

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Aboard UNSC Aircraft

Arcadia, location unknown

Spartan C026 clung to the handholds he made in the titanium-A armor of the pelican, as it spun widely out of control. The weapons and supply crates had broken free of their straps and were now careening about the inside of the aircraft, occasionally shooting out the small holes that had been burned into the hull.

Through the cracks, Axton could see the covenant banshees circling them, green and blue plasma lighting up the sky like fireworks. The pilot did her best to steer the damaged pelican away from the worst of the inferno, but some still managed to glaze the hull.

After entering the bumpy atmosphere, the seraphs had pulled away back into orbit, but the banshee's remained to ensure the UNSC craft was terminated. Axton wondered how long they'd be able to hold out before they were inevitably shot from the sky and fall careening into Arcadia's crust.

The marines clung to their seats with wide eyes and white knuckles, jerking back and forth from the constant thrashing of the pelican. Axton checked their biomonitors; they all glowed green on his HUD, although their heart rates were pounding like machine guns.

Something abruptly slammed into the side of the pelican, a massive schism rupturing in its hull, and a raging fire burned away at the enormous tear, smoking into the atmosphere. Another explosion and two marines lost their grip on the metal handles and went tumbling towards the gaping hole, grunting and thrashing for anything to hold on to. The Spartan lunged forward and snagged the back of their uniforms, planting his armored feet and straining against the wind. Axton back peddled to the opposite side of the pelican, shoving the two soldiers against the side until they regained their senses. Axton thought he heard their thanks but the voices were ripped away by the screaming air.

Sparks exploded from the controls, the thin glass from the windshield shattering and splintering inward. The co-pilots biomonitors flat lined.

"Engines are out! We-" the pilot shouted, before she was interrupted when the pelican lurched forward and dropped like a stone. Axton's stomach floated up into his throat at the same time his feet left the ground, his helmet scraping the top. The Spartan's training kicked in, and shoved himself off the ceiling and bent his knees as he landed to lower his center of gravity.

"S what's our status?" Axton shouted, hoping the AI could hear him.

"Total engine failure. Obviously the hull is breached and will continue to break apart. Two marines are dead. Banshees are making another run, brace for heavy fire." Saratoga said quietly, his presence bringing an eerie calm over Axton. Even though Axton was not the Spartan Saratoga had first chosen, the two pulled together and made it work.

The Spartan only had seconds before he noticed a green bolt of plasma arcing straight towards the open wound in the pelican's side. "Hit the deck!" he barked, tucking in his shoulder and rolling to the side. Axton saw an emerald haze pouring through the open gash, but the other marines barely had time to tear their hands away from the metal rungs. Axton realized another Spartan would have been able to move quickly enough, but the marines didn't have a prayer.

Plasma washed over the inside of the pelican like a tidal wave, bathing everything in green fire, then the ball of plasma slammed into the opposite side of the pelican, smashing through and through.

Axton's shields were hacked in half, the alarm whining in his ear. His skin broiled and burned, until the hydrostatic gel, a liquid-filled layer that regulates the temperature of the suit, adjusted to keep the heat at bearable levels. The open wounds on his leg and arm were burnt to a crisp, the biofoam fusing into his charred flesh.

The rest of the crew, however, did not fare as well. They were instantly vaporized, their cries burnt away. The blinking green lights on his heads-up-display disappeared.

The pelican shuddered, rivets popping and the frame groaning. Axton latched onto the starboard side, just as the pelican split in half. He tucked his legs beneath him, avoiding the hunks of razor sharp super-heated metal crunching and snapping around him. The ablaze back-end of the pelican tumbled backwards, then erupted in a torrent of red and blue flames. The front of the pelican bucked forward, its previous contents falling out the open back.

Axton knew exactly what was coming next. The banshees would make one more sweeping run, engulfing both pieces of falling metal with red-hot plasma, then scan for life-signs. The Spartan only had one option left.

The stained white titanium alloy outer shell that encased his body was extremely resilient and could withstand high velocity impact, but falling at supersonic speed would crush his innards. Axton hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Get jumping lugnut, no way to slow this bird down." Saratoga hissed quietly in his head, "the engines and reverse thrusters are shot,"

"Acknowledged." Axton shifted his grip so that his legs were dangling after the front of the falling pelican, flaming debris pinging against his already overwrought shields.

Axton released one hand from the side of the bent-in pelican, the wrecked hull beginning to break apart.

"Don't look down," Saratoga whispered, and Axton could tell the AI was nervous; if Axton was splattered across the surface of Arcadia, he would be too.

"Copy that." Axton released his other gauntleted hand, and careened into the open air.

Arcadia's untamed forests and enormous mountains spiraled across Axton's faceplate, forming into one green blur as the Spartan sped closer and closer to its surface. A mili-second more of unprofessional spinning and decades of training kicked in. He flattened his body out, spreading his arms and legs wide like a bird. The Spartan's wild descent stabilized, and the screaming wind muted to a mild wail. He only had a moments reprieve as a purple streak raced across his faceplate. Banshees. He boosted his motion sensor to maximum range, a series of red blips appearing. Axton twisted his head to look up at the separate pieces of UNSC aircraft that remained: the covenant fighters bathed them in green plasma, ensuring any survivors of their first volley were burned to less than a crisp. Amusement flickered in the Spartan's eye _. Too late_ , he mused.

He had thought he'd escaped undiscovered, as the covenant aircraft appeared to be busy roasting the pieces of pelican, until a trio of banshees peeled off and raced towards him.

"Three banshees approaching your six approximately 7 seconds before they are in firing range. Adjust angle to negative thirty-six degrees to avoid being incinerated…within the 7 seconds anyway," a blue marker popped up at the base of an immense mound of dirt, surrounded by a sea of green. Axton tilted his shoulders slightly downward, his armored boots pointing towards the sky. His speed increased ten-fold, and he could now see the small streams and rivers that wound their way through the dense jungle.

"Over pressurize the hydrostic gel just before you hit, prepare yourself for possible nitrogen embolisms," Saratoga reminded him, "aim for the trees to slow you down, but steer clear of the rivers; they are shallow and filled with rocks."

"Noted," Axton replied, fully concentrated on avoiding the plasma bolts that whizzed past his head. His shields were taking a serious pounding as the plasma got closer and closer with every passing second. The alarms whined as a banshee swooped dangerously close.

"Prepare for impact."

Axton tucked in his legs, and gripped his knees tightly. The trees whacked away at his shields, chewing up the 17% of them that remained. He overrode the automated hydrostic gel settings, and over pressurized the liquid filled layer to maximum. Immense pain instantly seized his body, millions of needles stabbing into him. His skin burned, the energy sword wounds from the elite were searing hot mingled with an icy pang from the charred biofoam. He hadn't felt pain like this since he had the first augmentation injection back on Reach. Now though, he had no one to dip him in pain meds.

Axton pushed the thought to the back of his mind, just as he smacked into the hard surface of Arcadia at 130 meters per second. His vision swarmed with black splotches, his head whipping back against his helmet. The air was ripped from his lungs, crushing his ribs and tearing his right shoulder from its socket. Splinters exploded from the trees around him, the mushy ground rushing up like a tidal wave. Water trickled in the gaping crater the falling Spartan had created.

Axton tasted rusty copper in his mouth, the edges of his vision beginning to clear. The steady tingling began to fade, and only the throbbing from his broken ribs and shoulder remained. He laid there, completely vulnerable, life slowly refilling his punished body. The pain was good though, it helped Axton crawl out of his stupor and regain his senses.

"How bad…?" The Spartan coughed, his lungs burning.

"Three broken ribs, your right shoulder is out, and blood loss is reaching dangerous levels…you need to get moving Spartan. There is a UNSC base 7 clicks northwest of your current position." Axton didn't answer him, merely flexing his stiff fingers. A little blue marker blipped onto his visor.

Axton gritted his teeth as he pulled himself up and out of the two- meter-deep hole in the ground. He picked himself up, every fiber in his body protesting. The Spartan checked the remaining gear that was still clamped to his armor, and frowned at what he found. One assault rifle that was bent beyond repair, a knife lodged into its sheathe, an empty belt of grenades, and an ammo clip from his now missing shotgun. He discarded the assault rifle and yanked the knife from its sheathe. It slid out with a sharp slink, and sparkled as the sun's rays pierced through the thick canopy. For the first time since crashing into Arcadia's hard dirt, Axton looked to its atmosphere. He slowly slunk into the shadows of the lofty trees, vanishing entirely.

A fleet of monstrous covenant ships swarmed the air above something that seemed to be a smoking mountain of ash, the scent of burnt flesh wafting through the blackened sky. It was a square mile of wasteland, just another victim of the covenant assault. Axton tried not to think of all the lives lost, the innocent population slaughtered. He buried the thought, he had dealt with this for long enough to silence his pang of guilt.

Then the covenant fleet did something the Spartan had never thought possible. They turned around, and fled the planet. The Covenant was running away. Retreating. Axton was instantly suspicious; they were not done here. Over three quarters of the planet remained completely untouched. Axton kept his motion sensor charged to maximum range, which was still empty of any sign of other life.

"Snap out of it! Get moving." Saratoga hissed angrily, his nagging reminders poking at the Spartan's patience.

"Can it. I know exactly how much time I have." Axton snapped back, slowly creeping from the shadows. The AI remained silent, but Axton could sense his disdain. Ever since Saratoga's chosen Spartan, Raph, had been killed on Miridem in 2544, the AI had never been the same.

A long silence followed as the Spartan turned and trudged towards the little blue marker, moving silently through the dense underbrush despite his bulk. His wounds slowed him slightly, but he knew how to push his physical discomfort to the back of his mind, and quickly resumed his normal pace. The forest was absolutely void of sound, no birds chirped, no voles scuffling across the jungle floor. Streams carried bits of cinders and debris out to the ocean, no doubt turning it a dirty grey.

Axton was careful to stay clear of the gaps in the canopy to avoid detection from any covenant forces that may still be lurking nearby, searching for survivors. As he went, Axton tried to role his right shoulder, but it refused to move. He took a moment to shove it back into the socket with his good arm, ignoring the pain that streaked through his limb. The Spartan made his way towards the UNSC base, assuming of course that the base was still intact. Axton still couldn't understand why the covenant had left, especially if they hadn't glassed the UNSC forces on this planet. He decided they would be back to glass the planet at a later time, as Saratoga had already informed him the covenant had abandoned Arcadia's atmosphere.

Axton thudded over a fallen log, just as two yellow blips appeared on his visor. He froze, tightening his grip on the combat knife, and slowly lowered himself into a crouched position. The yellow dots didn't move, and Axton's friend-or-foe tag didn't appear above them.

"Careful. Contact 34 meters away, unknown persons. Tread lightly, leadfoot." Axton didn't respond, just shifting his weight so that only the balls of his feet squished against the mushy ground. He crept through the shadows of the forest, moving his way closer to the little yellow dots. Water leaked down the sides of his armor, clearing streaks of mud and blood from its exterior.

Axton knew the contact could easily be covenant snipers, or dual elite guards. He almost preferred an elite; the Jackals that normally manned the sniper position were sly and cowardly. He liked a challenge.

As soon as the yellow blips moved into the 20-meter mark, the Spartan flattened out on the wet ground, his ribs protesting as he laid his weight down. A dense row of underbrush towered above the Spartan, obscuring the scene before him. Axton tightened his grip on the slick knife, the blood pounding through his head. He could smell smoke hanging in the air, and assumed it was from the burning colony behind him.

As the Spartan pulled the thick brush back, and peered into the small clearing before him, a bloodied ODST stared back. The man had a plasma wound in his thigh that went to the bone, and an RPG lying at his side, still smoking. A massive crater was carved in the center of the clearing, and a strange smoldering hunk of flesh sat in the very center. A burnt-to-a-crisp covenant elite. He then saw the other contact. A wounded Elite crawled towards the man, its energy sword dragging on the ground behind it. The alien wore silver plated armor, the mark of a field minor. With its wheezing breath, the creature whipped the sword forward, just as Axton sprang from cover and sprinted towards the alien. He smashed his armored boot down on its paw, and thrust his combat knife through the back of the elite's neck. He held it down with one knee, as the distorted figure gargled and squirmed. A moment later, and the corpse was still. Axton turned towards the ODST, just as the falling sword slid home. It penetrated the man's stomach, the dead elites grip finally slackening on the weapon. The Spartan quickly knelt and took hold of the end of the sword, careful not to cause more damage than there already was. The ODST grunted as the knife slithered from his abdomen, but said nothing. Axton reached for his medical kit that held the biofoam, but came up empty. It had been lost in the fall from the pelican.

"Sent for a hog' half hour ago, be here any minute sir." The ODST coughed, his breathing ragged. Axton nodded, and yanked a clump of moss from the ground and packed it into the wounds, attempting to staunch the blood. If the soldier kept bleeding in this manor, he'd be dead within a couple of minutes. Luckily, the moss began to turn a sickly brown-red color, and the blood began to dry. The ODST lifted his steely blue eyes to gaze at Axton.

"Who are you...sir," the helljumper ventured, nodding towards the absence of a gold insignia.

"Spartan Axton." He replied, in a tone that clearly said 'none of your business.'

He gently lifted the major onto his feet, and slung the man's arm over his shoulder, crouching to match his height. The ODST's right leg with the plasma wound hung limp, completely useless. He clutched the knife wound at his stomach, holding the moss in place.

In the distance, the Spartan could hear the muffled roar of a warthog approaching, racing through the jungle towards their location. The roaring grew louder, until a standardized UNSC warthog with a gunner at the back popped into view and skidded to a stop in front of them. There were only two marines, one driving the vehicle and the other manning the machine gun in the back. They're eyes widened at seeing him, then both stumbled into a clumsy salute.

Axton ignored them, as he easily lifted the major into the back seat.

"I drive." Axton grumbled, turning to stomp back around to the driver's side. The marine nodded, and hurriedly jumped out the front seat and scrambled around the back to clamber into the passenger side.

The Spartan swung into the armored vehicle, engine still growling softly, gunned the warthog and spun it towards Bravo Base 070. The vehicle bounced across the narrow path, vegetation whipping against its sides. They traveled in this manor for another four clicks, before the blue marker on Axton's visor once again came into view. They rounded a tree-filled corner, and the UNSC base appeared from beyond the brush.

The base was small and rudimentary, but still held a landing bay on the second story. It had one main complex, with three smaller outer buildings connected by long halls. Base personnel were posted outside of all the structures, guarding the entrances. Most of them stared at the armored giant trudging towards the larger complex, along with the two marines carrying the wounded ODST major between them.

The soldiers guarding the steel door shakily saluted and stepped out of the way, swinging the door wide open for him. Axton thudded down the gray hallway, bringing up the bases schematics that Saratoga silently offered on his visor, and made his way to the control room. Whoever was running this place would be there.

"You should be heading to the medical bay first." Saratoga snipped, indicating the location on the base with a little blue dot.

"No time." Axton swung the door to the control room open, ducking his head to avoid hitting it on the door frame. The entire control turned to gape at the Spartan, as he approached the brigadier general that stood glaring at a small monitor. Axton laid his right hand across his helmet in salute, and said: "Spartan C026 reporting for duty."


	9. Grudges

Chapter Nine

2100 Hours, September 18

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Arcadia, Procyon System

Near Abaskun City

Raven looked out over the moonlit forest, a blanket of black soot settling over it. A cold wind wrapped around her, chilling to the bone. Red flames still flickered in the distance, finally beginning to die out. Raven sat with her back against a frozen rock, her two SMG's resting lightly across her lap. Her ankle was wrapped with a strip of cloth she'd ripped from her pant leg, and then she had used the extra to bind her shoulder.

She had tried not to hear the anguished cries that echoed up to her position on the plateau, wincing every time the voices suddenly fell silent. The innocent people of Aloide turned to dust, along with the not-so-innocent Insurrectionist base. She amused herself by thinking that her family could have escaped, huddling in the shadows waiting to be rescued. But she knew it wasn't true. She knew her family was dead. Along with Aloide, the covenant had also glassed her base, and they had all been killed there, too. The girl briefly wondered if the UNSC base had been destroyed, but swept the thought away, knowing it didn't matter now.

So Raven was once again, alone. With a choice. She could recede into the deep jungles of Arcadia, leaving the world behind until the eventual fiery end. Or...she could get revenge. Revenge on the one who had most likely caused all of this.

Sheal'Ahljm, better known as the elite that the Lieutenant Colonel Kam had begun trade with. Raven only knew him by name, or of what Kam had told her, as she had never been permitted to meet him. But from what she could tell, that shipmaster was greedy and prouder than the prophets themselves. She also knew Sheal was something called a zealot, although she hadn't the slightest clue what that meant. All she cared about was if someone were to be responsible for the slaughter, it would be him.

The covenant had left orbit approximately eight hours ago, except for a single corvette that remained in low orbit. In order to reach Sheal, Raven would somehow have to get on that vessel. Of course, there was no way of knowing if Sheal was the shipmaster of _that_ particular ship, but it's all she had right now.

With a germ of a plan, Raven slid her newly cleaned SMG's into their holsters, and clicked them into place. The extra weight around her waist felt so natural she almost felt incomplete without them. She spider-laced her black combat boots, and lurched to her feet, her head spinning. The bullet wound in her shoulder was deteriorating. _It could be worse,_ she thought, _I could be dead._ A voice in the back of her mind whispered, _might as well be._

Raven swung her legs off the side of the plateau, and began to pick her way down the slippery mountain. She attempted to stick to large rocks protruding from the side, but ended up just slipping and sliding down the rest of the mountainside. At the base, she stood and wiped the mud from her pants, and continued on her way. Raven knew this continent like the back of her hand. She had been up, down and around it so many times even she couldn't keep track anymore. The –dead- Lieutenant Colonel had sent her on supply raids, scouting missions, and like her most recent, data collection. And although she enjoyed the rush of excitement and adventure, she often found herself sitting atop a long forgotten building of Pirth. The city was abandoned in 2531, after the first covenant attack. It was the only place Raven was truly at peace.

Was siding with the Insurrectionists the right choice? Raven was uncertain if she should have left them a long time ago and joined the UNSC. Be on the good side, the one that might not have stabbed her in the back. Although after yesterday's events, Raven doubted if that would ever be possible. She had already made her choice, and she would be forced to stick to it.

A branch snapped away from her hand and whacked her in the face, cutting her cheek. Raven pulled back and touched the stinging incise, a tiny drop of blood leaking from the wound. She wiped it away, and slowly began to avoid the gripping vegetation, instead of trying to shove her away through it.

Raven angled herself towards her home colony, Aloide. She found the path that she usually used to make trips between the settlement of Abaskun and the Insurrectionist base, and followed along it until the colony came into view on the right. Or what was left of it.

The girl just stared. Heat still poured from the smoking ruins, billowing into the clean air above. Massive, gaping fissures were carved into the earth, swallowing the debris that drifted through the air. The same bustling streets that once held squealing children and barking dogs, were now eerily silent and empty.

Raven bent down, and sifted her fingers through the ash, staining her fingers a dirty black. Lost in her shock, she barely noticed the flicker of movement coming from her left. She slowly crept back into the brush, vanishing. Three small creatures waddled past, strange masks attached to their dog-like faces. Raven recognized them from books she had read back at base, while she was training for active duty as an Innie. Grunts. Fairly useless, the covenant used them as cannon fodder. Raven just hoped these were the only covenant left on Arcadia. Elites, or Sangheili as the covenant called them, would be the real problem. The girl was so absorbed with the aliens before her, she jumped when the brush rustled behind her.

"Never thought…I'd see you back here." A frail voice coughed behind her. Raven whirled around in surprise, yanking her right SMG from its holster, as her left arm refused to move. Raven leveled the gun towards the noise, the safety switch on her SMG already clicking off. As soon as her eyes focused on her assailant, Raven's finger slipped away from the trigger.

An elderly woman looked up at Raven, covered in burn wounds. She was lying on the ground, propped up against a small tree. The grey shawl that was draped over her shoulders was torn, and covered in a red tinge, blood.

"Last time I saw…you…you were just a little thing." She lifted a shaky hand and held it a few feet off the ground. Raven cautiously lowered her weapon, and took a step closer to the lady, kneeling down a meter away.

"How do you know me?" she asked, trying to understand why the woman was just lying there. Her eyes fell on a ragged wound in the woman's torso, most likely caused by a stray plasma shot. Or an Elite just wanted an easy kill.

"I saw you the day the rebels took you." The women sputtered, her breaths becoming shallower. Raven crawled a little closer. "You were just a child, trying to cling to your mother. I… remember they wouldn't tell your parents why they were stealing away their child." Raven knew the woman must be delusional; as Raven had left the colony on her own eleven years ago…hadn't she? That's what Kam had told her; that she was just too young to remember? Raven shook her head.

"I left of my own accord." The old lady's eyes saddened, and she turned her head to gaze into the distance. Raven thought she saw something glistening tumble off the woman's cheek, but she blinked and it had already disappeared. The elderly woman's voice was just a hoarse whisper, and Raven had to strain to hear her.

"Will you always believe…what someone…" the woman sputtered on the last word, both her hands drifting to her torso. Her chest fluttered, her face contorting with pain, the life seeping into the earth below. The old woman's chest stilled, her hands slumping. Raven gingerly reached out, and slid the woman's eyelids closed. Just one more life to add to the list.

As Raven draped the shawl over the woman's body, she suddenly felt something flicker to life in her chest. Anger. She didn't just want revenge, Raven wanted to watch the life drain from Sheal's eyes. Raven wanted to cause him pain. She wanted to make him _bleed_. And if she wanted to do that anytime soon, Raven had to get on that corvette. And although Sheal might not be on that ship, she would make sure he came back to this planet, one way or another.

Raven half-stood, in order to remain hidden from the alien's view, and silently picked up her SMG, keeping the safety off. She took one last look at her home, burned to ashes, and turned toward the one place that could help her.

After the covenant attacked, the people who remained on Arcadia formed a small lawless settlement, Abaskun. It's located on Mu, the continent thankfully Raven was already on. The settlement wasn't ruled by anyone, there was no law and order. That made it the perfect place for acquiring contraband. Because if Raven sought to kill a certain hunch-backed alien, she would need a ride.


	10. A Harsh Reality

Chapter Ten

0500 Hours, September 19

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Outskirts of Abaskun

Onboard Bravo Base 070

Axton clicked the last clasp of his armor into place, and stretched up to his full height, although he was careful not to lay too strenuous tension on the gel-fused wounds in his leg and shoulder. The base medical team, rudimentary as it was, had clumsily closed the two wounds with a dissolvable bio-medic sealing agent. Theoretically. The Spartan did not trust the people on this bleak little planet. Even as they had attempted to flash clone his ruined mid-section, he had refused and preferred they manually corrected his crooked bones.

"Must you do that?" the AI asked. Axton immediately halted scraping his combat knife against his left shoulder, sharpening it.

"Your suit is functioning properly." Saratoga said, a quirk in his voice.

"I know."

"Then why are you so moody?" he pestered. Axton sighed, and debated whether or not he should pull Saratoga from the slot on the back of his helmet. He felt the AI sigh, letting the matter go. Axton decided to answer anyways.

"I don't understand why the covenant left, simply glassing the rebels and then leaving? It makes no sense." The Spartan huffed, clearly exasperated.

"Not just the rebels, they also glassed the small colony next to it, Aloide, I believe it was called." A little map slipped onto Axton's visor, showing the colony before the covenant attacked it.

Axton removed the little image from his visor, just as a tentative knock came from his infirmary door. The handle twisted, and a young marine nervously stood as the door swung open. He saluted, his eyes glued to the grey-tiled floor. "General Walkers requests you to the control room sir." He fidgeted with his uniform until the Spartan dismissed him, and he went scurrying off down the hallway.

"I would suggest going to the armory first. If the covenant returns we may not have time to do anything but shoot." Saratoga stated, no question in his mind that the covenant would revisit Arcadia.

"What do you mean we?" the AI remained silent.

Axton resolved himself to knowing eventually he would find out one way or another, although waiting patiently was not his forte. Patience was never a Spartan's strong suit.

"Spartan C026 please report to the control room immediately." An impatient male voice jabbered from the speakers above him.

"Remind me to delete him once you plug me into base." Saratoga whispered, referring to the dumb AI, Mark.

Axton rolled his shoulder once, the sourness still registering, although not as painfully as before. He slid the last gauntlet into place, sealing the metal clasps on the sides and interlocking it with the armor on his forearm. Flexing his hand, he strolled out the infirmary door and down the dreary hallway. Any personnel passing by quickly flattened themselves to the wall and respectfully kept their eyes to the floor.

As the Spartan passed what Saratoga said to be the data core room, he could see scorch marks and smoking debris inside, along with a meter-wide hole in the ceiling. Marines were frantically scurrying to douse fires and reassemble what Axton guessed to be the core.

Two soldiers were carrying another man between them, a gunshot wound in his leg and what appeared to be a bruise the shape of a pistol butt on his temple. Axton saw three more leaned against the side of a wall, bruised and bloodied. At first, Axton had thought the base had been attacked by covenant ground forces, although he knew they could have never defended the base from an invading army.

"Armory's on the left up ahead." Axton pushed through the doors only to find the armory completely void of all weapons, equipment, and base personnel. Great. No team and no gun. Just like old times. The Spartan snorted and turned on his heel to leave. This truly was a pathetic little planet.

As he climbed up the stairs to the second floor, he passed the cargo bay, noticing the smoking pelican and bullet holes riddling the remaining vehicles. He could see blood splattered on the opposite side, trailing towards the bay doors. _What the hell had happened here?_ Axton turned his eyes away, and marched the rest of the distance to the control room.

General Walkers was awaiting his arrival, directing his crew to different areas of the base for repairs. He turned to gaze at the Spartan. Axton had hazel eyes with short dark hair, and a surprisingly young face for a deadly warrior. He was smaller than his counterparts, but still towered above the average man, muscular and lean. Walkers wondered how young the capable man before him truly was. The rest of the crew stared for a moment, then when back to quietly tapping at their keyboards.

"Spartan Axton, it is an honor. I assume you know of the covenant attack and are equally perplexed about the current situation. Tell me, what is a Spartan doing on a planet like this?" Walkers asked, authority gripping his voice.

"General Walkers, I was assigned to killing the shipmasters and the fleetmaster of the Covenant armada that was stationed above Arcadia. Clearly, it did not go as planned. I only managed to kill one before the Covenant eliminated the UNSC fleet. After that, I had a rough landing on your doorstep." Axton replied, completely apathetic, as if he hadn't just fallen from the sky like a meteor.

"We have had similar luck. As far as we are informed, the covenant glassed the Insurrectionist base and the colony next to it. They then left orbit altogether, save for a lone corvette hovering in low atmosphere. We haven't the slightest clue why one has remained after withdrawing all other forces. We were hoping you might be able to shed some much needed light."

Axton shook his head, "My AI and I only know of the assignment we were given." He stated.

"What happened to the base? Surely there was not a Covenant attack _here_." Saratoga snipped from the speakers on Axton's helmet.

Ren Jensen's brown eyes flickered up to meet Axton's. "You're correct, it wasn't the Covenant. Two days ago, an Insurrectionist got in the base and blew up all our shit. The Innie's have been selling classified information to the Covenant for the past seven months, and I think the deal went sour and that's why they were glassed." She announced, hoping she didn't sound like a complete idiot.

Another analyst spoke up from across the room, "That would explain why the corvette is still in orbit. If the Innie didn't bite it, they may be staying to retrieve her-or more, the file."

The room fell silent. Everyone seemed to understand simultaneously except Axton and Saratoga.

"What file?" The AI inquired curiously. For all his quirks, Saratoga had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Mark's suited figure and elephant ears appeared on the dash before them.

"We don't know; it was heavily encrypted. Looks like something was hidden on this backwater planet so no one would ever find it."

"Why wasn't the entire data core encrypted?" Saratoga snapped.

"It was. We think the rebel has an NACC chip." Axton had only heard of this sort of chip a couple times in his life, and only when it was supposedly discontinued.

"Didn't the Insurrectionist give up on that after all the fatalities?"

Mark's silhouette nodded. "That's just it-they traded with the covenant for the needed tech. Who knows how many freaks are running around out there now."

General Walkers rubbed his temples. Of course they weren't lucky enough for that Innie to have died. Whatever was on that file, what was left of the UNSC on this planet had to make sure the Covenant never got their greedy paws on it. _But how am I going to do that? All we have is a couple marines and-and a Spartan._ They have a Spartan now. With him, they might be able to get to that kid before the Covenant does. There was still _hope._

Walkers began tapping the pen to his cheek, deep in thought. If they wanted to secure the file and protect the planet from the last Covenant vessel, they were going to need this Spartan.


	11. Full Circle

Chapter Eleven

0700 Hours, September 19

2547 (Military Calendar) /

Abaskun City

Arcadia, Procyon System

Abaskun was a large settlement, bustling with life and the cry of children. It was the most collective place for trade, a true melting pot of religion, ethnicity, and ideals. Nobody asked who you were or where you came from, only if you had money.

The city was an island of soil in a sea of trees and vegetation, not a single piece of greenery growing within its borders. Today, neither were people. The streets were completely empty, void of all voices or the white noise of shuffling feet, clicking hooves and angry barterers. Only the dust stirred amongst the rudimentary buildings, every soul silent. Not even the birds offered to drown out the numbing solitude. A crushing sense of loneliness rushed in on Raven, making her chest tight and palms sweaty.

She had made the long trek to Abaskun over the cover of nightfall, just reaching its outskirts as the sun peaked from the jagged mountains. Her limbs ached, throbbing from the strenuous experience, physically and mentally. Somewhere along the way, the bullet wound in her shoulder had begun to bleed again, and now caked the rest of her arm in blood. As if that wasn't enough, an incessant chirping emanated from the back of her mind, beginning more than a couple hours ago. Whether it was real or imagined, Raven wasn't sure, but her nerves were on edge. She yearned to fall to the ground and sleep for an eternity, having been awake for an entire day. _I'll have time to sleep later. First, I kill Sheal._

But as she stumbled through the quiet city, she could find no one. No one to help her, no one to steal a ship from, no one to talk to. Complete emptiness. Doubt slipped in the back of her mind, without _something_ to get her up to that corvette, her entire plan was botched. She clenched her fists in anger, after the endless hours of trudging through this god forsaken planet, giving up now felt like a betrayal to all the people killed. _Why me?_ She thought pathetically.

Raven resolved herself to plopping down in the hard dirt and waiting out the cowering inhabitants of Abaskun. They rightfully assumed if the Covenant glassed the rebels base and Aloide, they would certainly be next. She wondered if any of the data she stole from the UNSC ever ended up coming through here, or if the civilians of this planet were completely oblivious to the Insurrectionists activities. Either way, they had to come out eventually.

Soon the hot sun was blaring down on her from above, and Raven's patience was boiling away as well.

"The Covenant have left orbit," she called out, "you can come out now." The streets remained silent. The girl let out an exasperated puff of air, before a gentle buzzing answered her call. The beeping from her chip grew ever louder, seeming to double as the buzz escalated to a low whine. _What on earth is that?_

Her question was quickly answered when a massive gliding shadow came into view, approaching her from down the street. Raven shot to her feet, retreating into the darkness the buildings created. The shadow just hovered for a moment, before slowly moving to disappear over the next row of housing. Raven held her breath.

Suddenly a Covenant seraph materialized over the town, just meters off the ground. It was larger than a banshee, not normally meant for atmospheric piloting, which meant it had to be part of the Covenant forces remaining on Arcadia. Hushed cries of terror came from within the nearest building, panicked whispers echoing through the walls. The doors to the vessel opened, revealing three elites and a swath of grunts. They filed out, landing heavily in the dirt, dust swirling up and over them.

Panic gripped Raven, why was the Covenant _here_ of all places? Why didn't they just glass this city to begin with? Bile rose in her throat as they fanned out, a group of grunts accompanying each elite. The massive aliens were absolutely terrifying. They each carried a shiny, violet rifle-looking gun, and energy swords clasped to their sides. The disgusting little creatures called Unggoy carried small plasma pistols, wildly aiming about. They seemed to be searching for something, tapping at small metallic devices the Sangheili held.

Raven flattened herself against the cool wall, trying to silently creep farther into the shadows, but froze when one of the elites turned to stare right in her direction. Kicking herself, she remembered there was still an audible beeping coming from the back of her head, leading them right to her. _It must be about the file,_ she realized, _that's why they are here. They came to finish their deal._ She led them right to this city. That's what the chirping coming from her chip is. A locater. Raven swore under her breath. Colonel Kam had set her up from the very beginning, if she ever fled the Insurrectionists, he would simply turn on the locater and let the whole galaxy know where she is.

Her rage was hefted to the side as the elite began walking closer, an awful musky stench flowing over him. He stood at the edge of the darkness, peering in, another few steps and he would be right on top of her. Just as she was about to pull her SMG's from their holsters, gunfire rang out from across the street. The nearest elite quickly spun around, ducking behind a nearby wall and taking aim at the humans across the street. All Raven could see was the barrel of a rifle pointed towards the aliens, shielded by the inside of a building. _You fools!_ She shouted internally, watching as chaos erupted around her.

Gunfire exploded from both parties, bathing the town in a hail of bullets and plasma. At first, the inhabitants of Abaskun were holding the Covenant back, completely surrounding them and even picking off a couple grunts. It seemed a small army had joined the fray, all firing from behind the safety of walls. Of course, this brief comeback wouldn't last. The seraph began firing at the humans, massive bolts of plasma melting entire buildings to the ground. Screams shattered the clean morning air, the death toll of Arcadia growing ever higher.

As unfortunate as their deaths were, Raven took the opportunity to burst from her hiding place and wildly sprint for the forest, desperate to escape her fate. She only made it a couple meters before an angry roar cut through the anarchy. She shot a glace over her shoulder to see a silver-armored elite break from the group and charge straight for her, rifle trained on her torso. Through her terror, she realized this alien would not kill her, for if they wanted whatever juicy file she had, they needed her heart still beating.

Raven ripped out her SMG's and spun around, unloading both clips into the elite as he closed the distance. His shields flared, then sparked out completely in a flash. She fumbled to reload, dropping one gun so she could yank a fresh clip out with her stiff arm, forcing her fingers to work.

"C'mon, c'mon!" she frantically mumbled, finally clicking the magazine into place. She took aim again, only to have the massive alien barrel into her and knock her to the ground. She rolled on her back just as the elite brought his fist above her head, and shoved her gun right into this open mandibles, pulling the trigger. A spray of bullets shot from her SMG, blowing out the back of the alien's skull. He sputtered for a moment, blue blood splattering on Raven's jacket. She rolled out from under him before he slumped to the ground, lifeless. Briefly, she imagined it was Sheal, and it brought her a small amount of satisfaction despite her pounding heartbeat and aching body. Raven had never been so close to such creatures, and she was fascinated by the sight of the alien. If only their goal in life wasn't to exterminate all humans.

Raven shakily got to her feet, her ears ringing and vision slightly blurry. Realizing she was completely out of ammo, she tucked her single gun into its holster, and stumbled towards the safety of the forest, barely able to walk a straight line. As soon as she was ten meters away, Raven thought she was home free until muted pounding on the earth behind her caught her attention. The girl barely had time to turn around before she was struck again, flinging her backwards and landing amongst the rocks. Her vision blackened for a moment, threatening to consume her.

Another elite stood over her, ragged breathing and blood racing down its left arm. "Heretic! You've killed my brother!" He warbled incoherently, unclasping the energy sword and unleashing the bighting double blade. Raven gasped, raising her hands as if to defend herself, feebly trying to scoot away from the massive alien. Before he could strike her, the third elite stepped in to grab its arm. He growled something unintelligible, then gestured towards the near unconscious Raven. The first elite shook off the other, and turned to stomp away.

Head swimming, the remaining Sangheili bent and grabbed her injured arm, dragging her back towards where she presumed the seraph was waiting.

"No! Release me!" Raven snarled, half begging, trying to yank her arm from its grip.

"Quiet, filthy maggot," he grumbled, not bothering to look back at her.

It seemed like an eternity later she finally felt the cool wind from the seraph's engines, and the shuffle of other footsteps. Her skin was rubbed raw from the harsh dirt, and her arm was near falling off. She felt the elite toss her onto the vessel, its cool metal suddenly meeting her face. She was yanked to an upright position, and some kind of warped helmet shoved on her, completely cutting off all her senses. Blind and deaf, she waited for what she was sure to be a merciless end to her existence.


	12. Cornered

Chapter Twelve

1300 Hours, September 19

2547 (Military Calendar)/

Aboard Covenant Seraph

Arcadia Atmosphere

Axton could vaguely make out the Covenant seraph, slowly approaching Arcadia's atmosphere. It had taken off from Abaskun city, and the Spartan could see the swirls of smoke beginning to form from the large colony. The Covenant seemed to depart before the majority of Abaskun was burned, hopefully leaving a trace of life in their wake.

The pelican he rode in had a small dent in the front windshield, which he had been told the Innie caused. The Spartan briefly wondered who this strange woman was, causing such a mess and then disappearing into the wilds of Arcadia only to be captured by the Covenant. He realized it didn't matter who it was, so long as the Covenant never got their paws on whatever she carried. General Walkers had instructed him to kill the rebel, or at least destroy her chip. He knew there would be no time to wipe it before the Covenant rained hell on them, so sparing her life had never been an option.

As the pelican slowly gained on the seraph, Axton hung from the side of the aircraft, leaning out the open door to peer over the running forests. He imagined this planet was beautiful before the first attack, the cities flourishing and the people thriving. Now, it was only a matter of time before the relentless Covenant returned to kill the rest of the planet.

"Axton, are you ready?" Saratoga whispered in his ear.

"You're asking me if I'm ready to jump out of a flying aircraft onto one filled with hostile aliens?"

"I'll take that as a yes. When you jump, you'll land on the right wing where you can get in through a maintenance hatch. So don't miss." The AI said teasingly, but with a hint of genuine concern in his voice. Axton knew he wouldn't miss; the endless days of flight training on Reach and augmentations had given him impeccable skills in all categories of combat. Although, this was the second time they'd be leaping from a pelican in the past thirty-six hours.

"Is this bothering you? I mean, we are solders, not mercenaries."

"It's a mission Saratoga. Nothing more, nothing less."

"The rebel is just a child."

"A child that made their choice." Saratoga quieted after that. Of course Axton had bothered over it, he could kill an entire army of Covenant without a second thought, but other humans were an entirely different story. Since his career in the UNSC, he'd only fought the rebels a handful of times, usually being assigned to a task involving the Covenant. He knew he would go through with killing the rebel, but that didn't mean he approved of it.

The Spartan could now make out the details on the Covenant seraph, its horse-shoe shaped structure and metallic purple shielding growing larger the closer they became.

"Ready up Spartan; we're almost in range," the pilot announced from the front seat. Axton surveyed the inside of the pelican, checking his guns and combat knife strapped to his armor. _Thirty seconds to go_. The pelican was just half a click away from the Covenant vessel, rising above it so they were not detected.

As soon as the rounded curve of the craft came into view from the side of the pelican, the Spartan sucked in his breath, launched himself from the edge and careened into the open air. Extending his limbs to balance himself, he fell for another few seconds until the seraph was in reach, colliding with the side and grasping for a handhold. He began to slip off the rounded hull, before latching onto the small ridges in the ships armor and clinging on for dear life. Carefully, Axton crawled back to the top, searching for the maintenance hatch.

"It's three meters to your left!" Saratoga shouted, barely audible over the roaring wind. Axton could see it now; barely rising above the rest of the hull. He slowly shuffled towards it, covering the distance in two strides. He shoved his armored gauntlets into the crack at the top of the hatch, and hauled back with all his strength, careful not to lose his balance. After a moment of struggling, it slowly curved open, allowing just enough space for the Spartan to slip in, scraping his armor along the way. He landed heavily in a small dank room, one door leading out to what looked like a hallway. They must have wound up in the storage room.

"Smooth, Spartan. Follow the curve, it'll take us right to the pilot's quarters." The AI informed him, a small blue marker appearing in the corner of his visor. He sighed internally at Saratoga, pulling his shotgun from its holster on his back and edging silently towards the open hallway. Peeking around the corner, traces of Covenant whispers drifted to his suits sensors.

"We are approaching the docking bay Commander."

"Prepare the human for transport."

Axton knew if he allowed them to board the corvette his chances of reaching the rebel were drastically reduced, not to mention getting off of this hunk of metal alive. It was now or never. He hoped whatever was on that file was worth it.

The Spartan quickly made his way towards the control room, hugging the walls and remaining in the shadows, even when the seraph shook from turbulence. As he grew nearer, the voices grew louder, and he could see the long silhouettes of two elites and a handful of grunts. Axton slid his knife from the pocket on his chest, shifting his shotgun so he could grip them both, and readied himself. A moment of apprehensive stillness passed, the aliens seeming to sense something was amiss.

All at once, Axton burst from the corner, earning a cry of surprise and rage from the elites. He sliced through the necks of several Unggoy and crushed one's skull with the butt of his shotgun before they even realized what had happened. He leapt at the nearest Sangheili, shattering its energy shield with brute force and jamming his sharp elbow into the alien's jaw. It tumbled to the shiny floor, clawing in agony and attempting to clear the blood from its throat. The Spartan landed atop the fallen elite, diving out of the way as an energy sword arced down and sliced the air where he had just been, lodging into the dead elite's chest cavity. The commander snarled in anger, mandibles parting in a vicious howl.

"Heretic! You dare intrude on this vessel!" The cackling and buzzing of the sword seemed louder than the screeching alien, but thankfully remained lodged in the carcass even when the commander yanked on its hilt. Axton fired once into the elite, breaking his protective shields and staggering him backwards. The elite quickly recovered, launching himself toward the Spartan in a desperate effort to save his own skin. He waited until the elite was close enough, then knocked his arms away and struck him in the neck with the blade, going through and through. Like his brother, the sangheili crashed to the floor, gurgling until the life seeped out of him. Axton wiped the blood from his knife and slid it back in its holster, turning to face the last remaining figure.

She was young, Axton guessed she couldn't be more than twenty, and hell had she been through the ringer. Every piece of exposed skin was either cut, bleeding, or missing entirely. There was a bullet hole in her arm, which seemed to have reopened and gushed down the length of her body.

"Well, only one way to find out if it's her," Saratoga said, a strange quirk in his usually monotone voice. Axton nodded, and came forward to pull the helmet from her head. The woman immediately yanked backwards, a surprised and muffled cry coming from within confinement of the helmet. He slid it off once she quieted, noticing the cold ridge on the back of her head.

"Are you Raven Stone?" he asked, keeping his weapon clipped to his back.

"Yes."

"What's on the file?" Saratoga piped, coming through Axton's speakers. Raven paused for a moment, green eyes narrowing.

"I don't know, its encrypted. But if you're asking me, that means you don't know either. Tell me, Spartan, what kind of file is on a UNSC base that the UNSC doesn't even know about?"

"One that an Insurrectionist shouldn't have." Axton pulled the gun from its holster, and pointed it right at her. He could see fear creep into the pits of her eyes.

"Listen, you don't have to die today. Take out your chip, and turn yourself in. Prison beats wherever you're going, and they won't go so hard on you if you make it easy." The red-haired woman shook her head.

"I can't. The NACC is connected to me as I am it, if I take it out, I'd be a drooling vegetable. No memory, no emotions, no thoughts. Just emptiness. I would suggest you go ahead and kill me, but the second this locator beacon turns off, the Covenant will know something is wrong and be waiting for you inside." She announced, shrugging her shoulders and leaning back against the hull. Axton thought about it, General Walker's had said to destroy the corvette in orbit if at all possible, and if he waited to kill her until they were already onboard, the Covenant would have no idea he was coming. It was the best case scenario.

"Well then, it looks like we are doing this together." Axton said, removing the weapon and standing to look down on her. Raven offered an unhappy grimace and glared towards the wall. _Fine, Mister Spartan, I'll play your game. But believe me when I say this: only one of us is getting off that ship, and it's not going to be you._


	13. Consequences of Justice

Chapter 13

1400 Hours, September 19

2547 (Military Calendar)/

Approaching Covenant Corvette

Arcadia Atmosphere

Raven was terrified. All she wanted was to break down and melt into a pool of tears, and hide from everything that's happened in the last few days. Somehow, she had become entrapped in a struggle between the Covenant and the UNSC and managed to make an enemy of them both, not to mention becoming an outcast of the rebels. All that was left was to kill Sheal, and bring some sort of justice to Arcadia.

The Spartan had decided to keep her alive until they reached the Corvette, which gave her exactly no time to figure out a plan. She could already see the ship sliding into view from the front of the seraph, the Spartan's AI guiding the vessel. Raven wasn't sure who she'd rather be imprisoned by; the Covenant or this soldier. He'd barely spoken a word to her, hovering just a few feet from her at all times. She'd tried to ask his name, or what his plan was or why a Spartan was even on Arcadia, but all she got was the cold metallic shoulder. His AI wasn't much help either, offering a few quip comments and then quietly flying the seraph closer to her death. All-in-all they were a quite the frustrating duo.

"Spartan," the computer chimed, "the party's going to start in roughly three hundred meters. Oh, and I'm not entirely positive on how to dock this flying horseshoe so be prepared for some bumps."

"Got it. I'll unplug you before then, what about the shipmaster's location?" The Spartan asked, his voice surprisingly young. Raven had heard rumors of the UNSC snatching children, but never had she imagined they were actually true. It's no wonder there is an insurrection; what government would condone child soldiers? One that needed to be changed. She was suddenly glad she ended up on the side of the rebels, joining with the UNSC would have been a sickening mistake.

"The Corvette's shields are messing with my scanners, but I do have the vessel's schematics, so finding the bastard shouldn't be too difficult."

"How much longer until we can board?"

"Assuming they open the doors for us, our trajectory will take us into the landing bay in thirty-three seconds." The Spartan nodded, and finally turned to look down at Raven. He paused for a moment, as if considering what to say.

"Why did you go to Abaskun? We may have never found you if you fled deeper into the forest, and the Covenant definitely wouldn't have without a locator. Up until now, it seemed like you had a pretty good idea what you were doing, and going into that city was a rookie mistake. Not to mention because of you the residents there were killed." He said calmly, total indifference radiating from behind his darkened visor.

"I was looking for a ship. I needed a ride to get up here. The Shipmaster, Sheal, he is responsible for the deaths of my people. The Covenant is here because of _me_ , and I need to make this right."

"And you want him dead."

"That too."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I plan on killing him too." Raven pursed her lips. She hadn't considered making it halfway up to Sheal only to have someone _else_ kill him. Raven had absolute confidence that this Spartan would kill Sheal'Ahljm, and take the rest of the ship with him, but knowing she would not be the one to watch the life seep from his eyes did not sit well with her. They glared at each other a moment longer, before the armored soldier turned and removed his AI chip from the console. Raven studied him as he plugged the little chip into the back of his helmet, similar to hers. He was tall, almost inhumanly so, and the armor he wore was a dull silver, dented and lightly stained with blood. It seemed like the Spartan had been through the ringer as well, and she found it hard to believe this person would soon be her murderer.

"The bay doors are opening!" The AI called, bringing her attention back to the present. The Spartan yanked the shotgun from his back and stood ready, waiting for the seraph door to lower as we entered the larger vessel. At first all was silent, and suddenly a torrent of plasma and eruptions rocked the entire ship, exploding in from the opening in the floor. The Spartan was launched through the front shield of the seraph and disappeared from view immediately, leaving Raven reeling back in the flames. Her hands stung and her ears screamed with a high pitch ringing, eyes burning from the searing plasma. Stumbling to her feet, she looked for the Spartan, half expecting a barrel in her face. She could hear muffled shots and wailing coming from outside, massive concussive booms bouncing off the walls.

 _What the hell hit us? Somehow they knew we had their seraph!_ Raven steamed, tripping out of the crumpled seraph and collapsing to the floor of the Corvette. Her vision still fuzzy, she could barely make out the war raging around her. The Spartan was a one-man _army,_ bright flashes coming from the barrel of his gun and knife hacking whenever an enemy dared to come too close. Two massive beasts stood near the center of the landing bay, firing green bolts of plasma, blasting away grunts and jackals alike in their frantic effort to hit the Spartan. They had spikes reaching from their orange, wriggling backs and rock-hard shields attached to their left arms. _Hunters,_ Raven realized, fear settling into a knot in her throat. She'd never seen them, but remembered Colonel Kam telling her stories of the monsters with a cannon for an arm.

Gathering herself up, she stumbled towards the nearest exit, a violet hue emanating from the hallway, dodging plasma shots as they rained down from above her. A grunt noticed her attempt to flee and began to draw attention to her, but Raven quickly tackled the Unggoy to the floor and ripped off its horrid mask, leaving it sucking for air and choking on its own blood. She stood before anyone else could notice her, and sprinted towards the open hall hoping all eyes were still on the Spartan.

Covenant had stopped streaming in from all sides, their bodies littering the floor, the sounds of gunfire occurring less and less frequently. Raven wouldn't be surprised if the Spartan had managed to kill the two hunters or escaped as she had, but the only thing on her mind was finding the shipmaster. At first, she stuck to the shadows, randomly winding her way through the ship until she realized she hadn't run into a single alien since leaving the landing bay. It was as if the entire ship was empty, even the sounds of battle had quieted to absolute silence. She continued to wander, finding nothing but vacant chambers and monitors with strange symbols adorning them.

 _Am I the only one left on this god damn ship?_ She thought, her frustration building. She had made it all the way up to the Corvette, survived their ambush and somehow evaded the Spartan sent to kill her, and Sheal was nowhere to be found! Fuming, she stomped further down the hallway, coming to the last door before it dead-ended.

Inside appeared to be similar to the other rooms, except a single red glow lit the room in the very center, and screens littered the front, showing different images across the ship. _The surveillance room,_ she realized, coming closer to peer at the monitors. One was pointed towards the landing bay, blue blood covering the floor and plasma burns marking every corner, the lifeless hulk of two hunters sticking out amongst the other corpses. Another was pointed down a dim hallway, and another showed what seemed to be the main bridge. Finally, she could see a couple of grunts and elites manning the control room, but the telltale sign of red armor marking the shipmaster was nowhere to be seen. As if on cue, the Spartan burst onto the monitor showing the navigation crew and disposed of them quickly and ruthlessly, appearing to be searching for the shipmaster as well. He paused for a moment, scanning the chamber, and then turned and marched out, moving on to the next.

Her eyes drifted to the remaining monitor, only to be met with confusion. It showed an image of another set of monitors, which seemed to show exactly the same images. Befuddled, she leaned closer, and the camera suddenly zoomed closer. A sick feeling marred her stomach, and she slowly covered one eye, testing her theory. Half of the screen showed blackness, while the other continued to portray what she was seeing. Horrified, Raven lurched backwards, turning and sinking to the floor.

"My god," she mumbled, "they've been watching me this whole time." The Covenant had been watching with _her_ eyes, listening with _her_ ears to everything since the day she had the chip implanted. The Colonel really did utterly stab her in the back. Raven had the intense urge to rip the NACC chip from her head and crush it, but the discovery enraged her even further, and strengthened her resolve. Angrily spinning towards the door, she found it already open. A hulking form stood in the hallway, on the cusp of illumination by the red light. It had to be pushing seven feet, and it definitely wasn't the Spartan. Raven paled as the massive elite stepped into the room, blood red armor gleaming, and came to a stop just a few meters before her. Neither said a word, moved a muscle, or breathed. The air itself seemed to pause with anticipation.

All at once the elite roared and leapt toward her, Raven yanking out her one knife and diving out of the way, rolling to a crouch and whirling to ready herself.

"You've come all this way to face me, and now you shall have what you wished for insect!" He snarled, charging at her again. Every bone ached, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins masked the pain and let her nimbly dodge his attack, swiping at the exposed flesh behind his kneecap. Her knife bounced violently off the elite's shield, sending a shockwave up her arm that left her sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath. She rocketed to her feet and spun out of the way just as Sheal's massive fist struck where she had been just a moment before.

There was no way she could win. All she had was a knife and determination. She noticed the shipmaster had not unsheathed his energy sword yet, most likely too arrogant to believe he would need it. If she could somehow get her hands on it, she stood a much greater chance. The only problem being it was literally attached at the hip to the elite, and getting that close would be extremely hazardous. Although, it's not like she had a plethora of options.

Gripping her knife tighter and gritting her teeth, she sprinted at him, knife held like she intended an overhead attack. A glint flashed in his yellow eyes, imagining the human was running to her death, he slashed at Raven's exposed chest, fingertips just missing as she jerked to the left and snatched the sword right from under him. She hit the floor immediately, anticipating his next strike, and rolled out of the way and back to her feet. She could almost feel the anger radiating off of him. She fumbled with the handle for a moment, trying to figure out how to turn it on, only for the blade to erupt in a blight flash and sizzle in her hand.

Suddenly _she_ was on the attack, the shipmaster dodging her rapid slashes as he tried to avoid the blade's stinging bite. It was so hot, it singed the hair on Raven's hand and nearly burned her skin just holding the handle, she couldn't even imagine what it would do to living flesh. Hopefully, she was about to find out.

The shipmaster became more enraged as her strikes got closer and closer to their target, until she finally slashed up his right shoulder, and sent him stumbling backwards.

"You maggot!" He snarled, blue blood gushing from the wound. "I will have your head on my mantle!"

"You deserve worse for what you've done! Be thankful all I want is you dead." He curled his fists in anger, screeching something unintelligible. The radiance that illuminated them both cast a deathly shadow, and made the hulking beast in front of her even more terrifying. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and jutted the cackling sword towards the alien, beckoning him forward. He paused for a moment, then rushed to meet her faster than she could react. She swung a moment too late, missing his chest and slicing through nothing but air. His armored foot connected with her ribcage which crumpled inward under the immense pressure and sent her spinning to the floor, the sword flying from her grasp and landing somewhere over her shoulder. The pain was immediate, burning and screaming in her chest for relief. Wheezing, she rolled onto her stomach away from the elite and cried out in pain when her broken ribs slashed at her insides. It was like a million tiny knives pierced her flesh and were ripping away at her intestines every time she tried to take a breath.

 _He's got me._ The elite marched over to her, his breathing ragged, his armor glistening, and hovered just above Raven, watching her writhe in agony. Her vision blurred once more, anger seeping from her until all that remained was a frightened woman not ready to die. She had known in her line of business an early death was more than likely, but not like this. Not on the ground, beaten and broken.

Forcing her eyes open, she was startled to see the shipmaster was not standing over her, but lay sprawled on the ground a few meters away, similarly dazed as she was. A smoking barrel held steady near the center of the room, the Spartan behind it. She clutched her chest and wobbled to her feet, unsure if she should be happy or alarmed. She pushed her feelings to the side; this was about finding justice for the people who were killed, not revenge.

"Your welcome." The Spartan remarked, turning his attention back to the elite and firing again into its chest. Sheal'Ahljm's shielding sparked and disappeared, leaving him gasping and vulnerable. He sprung up and quickly dashed at the Spartan, closing the short distance and forcing the Spartan to drop the shotgun and block the elite's assault. The Spartan yanked out his knife with one hand and slashed across the shipmaster's chest, shattering his armor and leaving a deep wound. Sheal roared in agony, but flung himself at the Spartan in retaliation and bashed him to the floor, gripping the hand the knife held. They struggled for a moment, both fighting for the upper hand. Seeing her opportunity, Raven lurched dizzily to her feet and searched blindly for the fallen energy sword, discovering it close by. She hurriedly fumbled for the indentation to turn it on, and limped toward the battling elite and Spartan. Raven reached them just as the shipmaster knocked the blade from the soldier's hand, and she swung at his neck with everything she had left. A sickening _shrump_ echoed as Sheal'Ahljm's head fell to the floor, a spurt of blood accompanying it. The Spartan heaved the headless cadaver off of himself and stood, assumingly eyeing her carefully.

Raven let out a breath she had been holding for two days, "I win, you alien bastard," and threw the sword to the ground and collapsed on all fours. She didn't really care if the UNSC killed her now, she had set things right and even death couldn't steal that from her.

Before she could ask the Spartan when exactly he did plan on killing her, another explosion rocked the vessel and once again knocked her to the hard floor.

"The ship's lost one of its thrusters from all the ruckus in our entrance, we're about to fall out of the sky." She heard the AI announce from the speakers. The Spartan paused briefly, glaring down at her, then strode forward and yanked her off the ground and towards the door.

"Hey! Where are we going?" No answer. "What is happening?!" Silence. Irritated, she tried to yank from his grip but simply couldn't muster anything more from her battered body, so she settled with giving up and stumbling after him. The Spartan seemed to know exactly where he was going, taking several turns back the way he had come, corpses littering the purple hallway and the sound of blood squishing beneath their feet. It wasn't long before they came to three separate hatches, each with a panel next to the opening.

"Get inside," he barked, tossing her in and mashing buttons from the outside. "You might want to buckle up." She looked around the strange compartment, recognizing it as a Covenant escape pod. _He means to shoot me back to Arcadia!_ She jumped for the single seat, fumbling awkwardly with the strange contraption and hindered by her wounds. A red light began to flash inside the tiny pod, and her heart jumped to her throat as she could suddenly see Arcadia's two moons flash by. Everything outside the small window spiraled and spun about, thrashing her back and forth. If she had any food in her stomach, she probably would have blown chunks all over in there. The muffled sound of thrusters kicked in, slowing the pod's velocity, until the sweeping forest came into view from the window and rapidly enlarged as Raven hurtled towards the earth. She clenched her eyes shut, gasping desperately for breath, whole body reeling.

A moment that lasted an eternity passed before the breath whipped from Raven's lungs and the bars that held her in place slammed against her shoulders, the pod shaking and groaning from impact. It rolled twice, bouncing completely off the ground only to hit again until it finally landed in its resting place. Raven hung, suspended by her seat, waiting for the stars to leave her eyes and the ringing to leave her ears. _That…could have gone all kinds of better._

She stayed like that for a long time, blacking in and out on consciousness, before realizing she was wheezing for air. Frantically pulling on what she thought to be the release mechanism, the seat groaned one last time and opened up, dropping her heavily onto the bottom of the pod. She beat on the hatch weakly, slowly cracking it open until she could squeeze all the way out. Flopping onto Arcadia's wet dirt had never felt better, the cool soil seeping away some of her pain. She was content to lie there, and hope the Covenant would decide she is too much trouble for what she's worth and leave Arcadia be.

Looking up, the sky glowed a beautiful golden red, both from the setting sun and the light from the falling Corvette, which would land somewhere over the ocean. She could already see the two moons drifting up from behind the mountains, the last rays of light disappearing. She wished this moment would last forever.

"Is it everything you wanted?" A voice said from over her shoulder. She jumped at first, before recognizing exactly who it was.

"Yes. We brought retribution to everyone who died here. If I had the choice to do it all again, I would."

"Good." The Spartan was silent then. Both of them knew what had to happen, and neither seemed eager to get it over with. They stared at the setting sun for a long while.

"I'm going to give you a choice," he paused, "you can take out the chip, and I'll let you stay here until you die, or I can shoot you right now."

"Can I wait for the sun to set?" She quietly asked. The Spartan didn't reply immediately, but he nodded after a moment. And so they waited, feeling the coolness of nightfall trickle in from all around them. The distant smell of ash and smoke barely reached them, and one could even mistake it for the musky smells of the forest.

Raven sighed, satisfied, and reached for the back of her head, closing her eyes. She gripped the little chip between her fingers, paused for a brief moment, and slid the device out, the world instantly collapsing into darkness.

Axton stepped forward, and picked up the chip after it had fallen from her grip. He stopped and looked into her eyes, but there was simply nothing left. He stood, and intended to crush the chip in his palm before Saratoga stopped him.

"Plug it in, I should be able to get around the encryption. Let's figure out exactly why this all happened." Axton complied, and plugged in the rebel's chip to his helmet and waited for Saratoga. The AI was silent for a minute before scoffing.

"It's…gossip. Dirt on every higher-up in the UNSC. Some of it is court martial worthy, it looks like whoever made the file hid it on this backwater planet for later use. They never expected anyone to find it." A brief spell of anger flowed through Axton, all of this chaos for something so _insignificant_. He suddenly understood why a General such as Walkers would be all the way out here. He shook his head, and turned to leave, each step heavier than the last.

 **Hello lovely readers, thank you to everyone who read this! I hope you enjoyed it, and it didn't break your heart too much at the end. Let me know what you think, if it was good, awful or somewhere in between. I happily accept any feedback!**


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